You Leave Me Breathless
by Lily Orange
Summary: Isabel Willoughby finds that she is sick of her best friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in the school - her solution? To play Sirius at his own marauding game, using a cauldron full of Polyjuice Potion...
1. A Loveable Rogue

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"__Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Another Harry Potter story! This is my masterpiece that I spent ages working on and have completed so can post whenever :) and I was originally going to wait until I finished posting **Such Sweethearts** but I was too impatient so I'm going to start now! Please review, I'd love it if everybody who read this reviewed!

* * *

**Chapter One**

_**A Loveable Rogue**_

Isabel Willoughby was finding manoeuvring her exceedingly heavy trunk around King's Cross station extraordinarily difficult – she was certain that if she had to lift it again, she would find herself with a broken back in the Hospital Wing as soon as she arrived at Hogwarts; or, more likely, in a bed at St Mungo's. She was also sure that girls of her age, sixteen, should be able carry their trunks by now, and juggle it with a cage for their owl as well, besides her shoulder bag. Isabel's owl, Alethia, was hooting at regular intervals, to warn Isabel not to treat the cage so harshly.

She could blame herself, really, for having no help in carrying her trunk, owl cage and shoulder bag – she had spent the past few days in London, staying in a room at the Leaky Cauldron by herself. Her parents had gone early to visit her grandparents on the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales, but Isabel had politely declined – not that she didn't want to _see_her grandparents, but she hadn't learned to apparate as of yet, thus making it difficult to get back to London swiftly for the first of September.

The barman of the Leaky Cauldron, Tom, had helped her to lug her cases to the entrance of King's Cross, but had had to return to the pub to help finish up the breakfasts. That left a rather irritable Isabel with her hooting owl and heavy trunk, which she had to get to the Hogwarts Express on Platform 93/4. She hadn't been able to locate a luggage trolley, and couldn't see any of her friends about so had had to content herself with moving the trunk, owl cage and bag herself. Which was not easy, no matter what anybody said.

"I am never packing this much again," she hissed angrily as she dropped the trunk on her toe, and resisted the urge to swear loudly. She could hear the carefully stacked piles of books just fall amongst the folded, neatly ordered, piles of clothes and everything get tangled. She groaned – she had spent ages making sure everything was in its right place. Isabel was something of a neat freak – something relished by her best friend, Lily Evans, as Lily had a habit of being slightly untidy so Isabel's tidiness complimented her untidiness perfectly.

"Why did there have to be so many bloody books on our bloody book list?" she cursed, dropping the trunk again, causing Alethia to hoot in shock. Isabel shot her a murderous glare, before turning back to the problem in hand. She could see other Hogwarts students milling about, with their trunks and pet cases on trolleys! Why was it that she was the only one without?

Deciding to go about it strategically, Isabel carefully lifted her trunk – nearly breaking her wrist in the process – and stood it up against one of the pillars, and put Alethia's cage down on the floor next to it. It was only half past ten – one of Isabel's traits that came with the excessive tidiness was to be excessively early for anything. It had been a good job she had got to the station an hour early – it had taken her half that time to get her trunk down the steps and onto the walkway between Platforms Nine and Ten. Now she just had to get to the barrier, and somehow get her, Alethia, her bag and her trunk through it.

Coming to the conclusion that she would struggle to move the blasted thing whichever way she went about it, Isabel looped her shoulder bag over her left shoulder, grabbed the handle of her trunk in her right hand, and the handle of Alethia's cage in her left, and began to drag the trunk across the station, causing it to make a horrible, conspicuous, screeching noise.

"Bloody hell, I hate this stupid bloody damn thing!" she cursed, and then heard hysterical laughter behind her. Putting Alethia down – consequently getting an irate hoot – she spun round to locate the source of the laughter. Her bright sapphire eyes immediately saw it – two very tall teenage boys doubled up in laughter, roaring at her expense.

"Having a little trouble, Isabel?" the taller of the two asked – when he had stood to his full height, he was a good three inches over six foot, with shoulder-length dark brown curly hair and a face that was so insanely attractive it was untrue. His eyes were a stormy grey, and creased at the corners due to his amazing smile, bearing his perfectly aligned teeth.

"Nothing I can't handle, Sirius," Isabel responded politely. Sirius Black snorted with laughter, and walked forward to stand by Isabel and her belongings.

"You need to grow some muscles on that stick-thin body of yours," he whispered. She grinned. Contrary to how they often presented themselves, Sirius and Isabel were very good friends – she wouldn't let anybody else get away with telling her she was stick-thin without being hexed into oblivion first.

"Give the poor girl a hand, Padfoot!" the other boy said. Isabel smiled at him too – he was about an inch shorter than his best friend, with hazel eyes and unbelievably messy jet black hair and glasses. He was good-looking too, but not as insanely beautiful as his best friend.

"Sorry, Prongs, oh Magnificent One," Sirius smirked and picked up Isabel's trunk with ease – Isabel furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance and he just laughed, responding with, "it's my Quidditch muscles, baby!"

"I'll take Alethia for you, Isabel," James Potter, the messy-haired bespectacled boy, said helpfully. Isabel smiled at him gratefully. "And... could you put a good word in for me with Lily? Tell her how utterly helpful I've been?" he grinned sheepishly.

Isabel rolled her eyes, "Of course – was that your ulterior motive to helping me?" she asked cheekily.

"No! It was just an afterthought," he shrugged.

"Still as infatuated with my emerald-eyed friend as ever, James?" Isabel quizzed.

"Not infatuated, Isabel, I love her!" he said passionately, carrying Alethia carefully through the crowds.

Sirius was leading the little line of three sixteen-year-olds through the hustle and bustle of the morning at King's Cross, followed by James and then Isabel, who had been left with her shoulder bag to carry – which wasn't heavy in the least, so she was happy. She was anxiously looking across the hoards of people to spot her aforementioned flame-haired, emerald-eyed, flawless best friend Lily, but to no avail – in fact, she bumped into a stunning blonde girl with long hair who completely disregarded Isabel's mumbled apology of "Sorry, I'm really clumsy," and just glared at her. "Way to be friendly," Isabel muttered as the girl pushed past her, obviously searching for her friends too. She wasn't a Hogwarts girl – she wasn't pushing the trolley with the customary leather trunk and carrying an animal of some description, she was carrying a Muggle weekend bag and a vanity case.

"Had a good summer, then?" Isabel asked the two boys as they came to the barrier to Platform 93/4. Sirius kind of half-grinned, and James looked ecstatic.

"I ran away," Sirius said wistfully. Isabel was one of the few who knew about Sirius' family – his parents, Walburga and Orion Black, were pureblood maniacs who had placed all their hopes on their oldest son, but had had them dashed when he got sorted into Gryffindor instead of the mandatory Black family Slytherin. Sirius' younger brother, Regulus, had not dishonoured the family name as badly as Sirius – who had proceeded to associate himself with half-bloods, blood traitors and muggle-borns and to hex every Slytherin who crossed his path – well, at all, in fact, as he had entered Slytherin house and proceeded to go around with a group of pureblood maniacs, the spawn of his parents' friends. Sirius got badly beaten up and tortured every time he spoke out at home, including being subjected to the Cruciatus Curse on more than one occasion.

"Really, Sirius? That's great!" Isabel beamed at him, and patted his arm comfortingly. "Where did you go?"

"Prongs'," he said, grinning inanely at James.

"They treat him like he's my brother – if I wasn't their real son, I would say that he was their favourite!" he laughed.

"That's so good, Sirius, I'm really proud of you," Isabel replied. "Where's Remus and Peter?" she asked, referring to the two boys' other friends that grouped with them to make their mischievous, prank-loving group that had been dubbed the 'Marauders'. Remus Lupin was a quiet, sandy-haired boy that often looked ill but had a good heart and was very smart – he was sweet and kind, and was a prefect with Lily. The other boy was Peter Pettigrew – short and rather chubby, he wasn't as likeable as his three friends and was by no means categorized by the females of Hogwarts as attractive, and was rather mousy and not very clever, having to be helped in virtually every class by the other Marauders.

"Should be round here somewhere," James said absentmindedly, casting his twinkling eyes around the large mass of students milling around the magical platform of nine and three-quarters, outside the scarlet steam train of the Hogwarts Express.

"IZZY!" Isabel turned round to see a pretty girl with flaming red hair and sparkling emerald eyes running towards her, with her arms outstretched.

"LILS!" Isabel yelled back, hugging her best friend tightly.

"Oh how I have missed you, Izzy!" Lily said, using Isabel's pet name which she only let Lily use – Sirius would make many variations on it if he was permitted to use it.

"I've missed you so much Lily," James interjected before Isabel could even respond to Lily. Lily turned to look past Isabel, and saw James grinning at her, holding Alethia in her cage.

"Why has James stolen your owl?" she asked, grabbing her cage from James' hand. He didn't even mind – just smiled at her like a lovesick puppy. Sirius suppressed a grin.

"Lils, he didn't – he was helping me, there were no luggage trolleys left so Sirius and he helped me carry all my stuff down here," Isabel informed her, then, grinning wickedly, added, "they even offered to take it onto the train for me and put it in our compartment."

Sirius looked at Isabel with raised eyebrows, and she grinned sweetly.

"Did you really, James?" Lily asked incredulously.

"Of course I did, Lily," he replied sweetly. Lily smiled at him, and Isabel did a thumbs up at Sirius over her shoulder. He rolled his eyes, but grinned all the same.

"Shall we get on the train, then, before all the compartments are filled?" Isabel asked, and Lily nodded, picking up her owl cage – James offered to take Lily's trunk onto the train for her whilst Sirius pulled Isabel's along. Isabel reluctantly took Alethia's cage off him – she had been enjoying walking without any baggage apart from her small shoulder bag – and Sirius and James followed them on to the train.

As they walked down the aisle, it seemed most of the compartments had already been filled – Lily and Isabel were the only Gryffindor girls in their year, and subsequently hung out with Ravenclaws around school – but the Ravenclaw sixth year girls had filled a carriage out already, seeing as one of them, a blonde girl with short hair and an impish smile called Rosalind Harris, had managed to secure herself a boyfriend and he and his friends had piled into the same compartment, leaving no room available for Lily and Isabel.

"Er, Lily, Isabel, where exactly are you planning on sitting?" Sirius asked uncertainly as they neared the end of the train.

"There must be somewhere for us to sit," Lily muttered – but it turned out that there wasn't. The only spare seats were in the carriage with the Marauders – Sirius and James having already secured themselves a carriage and Remus and Peter were now sitting in it, Peter watching the people walk past the window on the platform in fascination, and Remus already reading a book.

"It looks like you're sitting with us," Sirius winked, and Isabel followed them into the carriage. Lily grabbed her arm before she entered.

"What, Lils?" Isabel asked her impatiently – she wanted to sit down and get her sweets out, she had bought some from Diagon Alley the day previous and there were enough for the whole carriage to share, even with Sirius and Isabel's large appetites.

"Do we really have to share a compartment with the Marauders?" she said apprehensively.

"And by that you mean the increasingly infatuated James Potter?" Isabel asked sarcastically, batting her long dark eyelashes mockingly.

"Um, yes," she responded automatically.

"Don't worry, Lils, if he begins to salivate on you, we'll move," Isabel grinned cheekily, and, before Lily could protest any further, Isabel dragged her into the carriage and sat her down opposite her. Lily was now sat between Remus and James (which she wasn't too happy about) and Isabel between Peter and Sirius.

"Is anybody hungry?" Isabel asked, causing Sirius to jump up and down in his seat animatedly.

"I am! I am!" he cried like a child about to open his Christmas presents on the twenty-fifth of December.

"Padfoot – how can you fit anymore food in?" James said exasperatedly. "You ate practically four breakfasts at mine this morning – and you bought a baguette from that little kiosk outside Kings Cross!"

"Hey, I got that girl's number," Sirius responded dreamily, and produced a piece of paper and gave it to Isabel to read.

"Sirius – this is a receipt for a packet of Polos," she snickered.

"Turn it over!"

"Oh, a number, and a name: _Lydia_," she read out in a stupid voice that was a mockery of Sirius' charming, seductive voice which he used when chatting girls up.

"Why has she written a number on the paper, though?" he asked her, clearly puzzled. Isabel rolled her eyes, and tucked her chocolate brown hair behind her ears – it fell in soft corkscrew curls which Isabel rather liked; she viewed her face as plain (though many others didn't, as her sapphire blue eyes illuminated her whole face) but she loved her hair.

This was what happened when a boy grew up in a house which hated anything muggle. "Well, Sirius, muggles have a communication thing called a telephone and each household with a phone has a phone number, and if you dial it on your phone, it will reach theirs and you can have a conversation. Lydia is obviously expecting you to call," Isabel explained; she was a half-blood, born of a pureblood mother and a muggle-born wizarding father.

"You really should have taken Muggle Studies," Lily laughed, who was a muggle-born therefore grew up using a telephone.

"Nah, she was pretty but not _pretty_, if you know what I mean," he said lazily.

"That did not make any sense," Remus grinned, making the girls laugh.

"Well, I mean that she was a pretty girl, but she wasn't the right sort of pretty," Sirius attempted to explain.

"I'm just going to repeat my previous comment," Remus said, eyes glinting.

"Well, for example, Isabel is pretty" – he smiled friendlily at Isabel, who blushed, and muttered, "Thanks," – "but... _she_," he said, eyes lighting up as a striking raven-haired girl with a rather curvaceous body walked down the aisle outside the compartment, pausing slightly by the door (Isabel could have sworn that was on purpose) to look through the window to the countryside the train was passing, "is the right sort of pretty," he grinned, jumping up and sliding the compartment door open.

"Hey, if I had a garden, I'd put my two lips and your two lips together," the Marauders, Lily and Isabel heard him say in his charming, seductive voice to the girl – a Hufflepuff fifth year by the name of Zara Brooke – who promptly giggled in the most annoying, girlish way ever, but a way that would certainly appeal to Sirius, who dragged her off to find a quiet corner to snog.

"So I guess I'm not the right kind of pretty, then," Isabel said, accompanying it with a hollow laugh.

"I'm sure that's not what he meant," James assured her.

"Yep, anyway, he loses out – he doesn't get any sweets!" Isabel said; her eyes lighting up with excitement as she dumped the seven bags of sweets she had bought from Diagon Alley during her stay at the Leaky Cauldron on the seat in Sirius' recently vacated spot.

The remaining five in the carriage delved into the mountain of sweets – even Remus, who was usually shy and retiring but had a bit of a fetish for chocolate, much like Lily, who was munching away on a Chocolate Frog – whilst Sirius got passionate with Zara Brooke down in the empty Prefects compartment, as the meeting hadn't started yet.

"So Lily, did you do anything nice over the summer?" James questioned adoringly.

"Yes, thank you, James, I went to France with my parents and sister," she said – Isabel noticed her face screw up at the mention of her vile sister, Petunia. Isabel had met Petunia – she normally stayed at Lily's for a week every summer holiday, and then Lily came and did the same at Isabel's house on the Cornish coast, but this summer they had struggled due to conflicting holiday dates of the Evans and Willoughby families – four times and each time Petunia had acted like Isabel and Lily were like a piece of dog excrement she had got all over her best suede shoe and were creating a horrible smell.

"Sounds good," he said.

Remus glanced at his watch. "Lily, we'd better go for the Prefects meeting," he reminded her.

"Oh yes, thanks for reminding me – I completely forgot!" she laughed, "I'll see you in half an hour Izzy."

"Bye Lils, bye Remus," Isabel waved as the two Gryffindor prefects left the carriage – now it was just James, Peter and Isabel but they weren't left alone for long. Isabel and James were deeply in discussion about Quidditch:

"No, Isabel, the Tutshill Tornadoes are _way_better than the Holyhead Harpies!"

"Sorry James, I think your brain is momentarily defecting if you think the Tornadoes are superior to the Harpies!"

"It's a team of only women!"

"So?"

"So it's not as good!"

"That is so sexist – you'd better watch it, I'm the Gryffindor beater and happen to possess a _very heavy_ Beater's bat!"

As they were just arguing – in a friendly manner, of course – Sirius staggered into the carriage, with pink lipstick all round his mouth and printed on the side of his neck, smiling cheerfully.

"Have a nice time with Zara?" Isabel asked somewhat bitterly – she hadn't properly forgiven him for the pretty comment earlier yet.

"Yeah – we got chucked out of the Prefects' compartment," Sirius grinned widely.

"Ha! I bet Lily and Remus weren't pleased!" James roared with laughter.

"No – not when they walk in on their friend with his hand down the top of a random hot Hufflepuff girl," he smiled, causing James to laugh even more.

"You are such a womaniser," Isabel chastised him. He put his head on her shoulder and batted his abnormally long eyelashes at her and smiled.

"Yeah, but you love me really," he said.

She took one look at his face, and smiled – who couldn't say no to that expression?

"I suppose," she replied.

Suddenly, a tall girl with pale red hair and a rather large chest entered the compartment – Isabel noted that she was wearing an impossibly short skirt and her lips has so much red lipstick on them they looked like large, inflated strawberries.

"Hey Sirius, baby, fancy a quick..." she trailed off suggestively. Sirius waggled his eyebrows and wandered off with the random girl who was perhaps even curvier than Zara.

"I despair of him," Isabel moaned.

"You've got to admire his stamina," James winked.

Secretly, though Sirius was a loveable rogue, she decided that she was going to get her own back at Sirius Black for his womanising ways, and play him at his own game. She just had to come up with an idea first.

:) x Lily Orange x (:

_

* * *

_

I hope you liked this, please, please, PLEASE review!!!!!


	2. Marauder Philosophy

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Wow, I am utterly overwhelmed by the response to the first chapter! Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed: sarlovesoccer, Sam-EvansBlue, enigmared, tanny apple, Alex, dreaminofrob, Ivy G., Fatal Revolution, Annik and vanillabean18; thank you to everybody who added my story to their alert subscriptions: Fatal Revolution, dreaminofrob, enigmared, honeymaid21, Sam-EvansBlue, sarlovesoccer and vanillabean18; and thank you to everybody who added my story to their favourites: dreaminofrob, enigmared, Fatal Revolution and sarlovesoccer. I really appreciate it, thank you. Plus I'm really glad you like Isabel and don't find her an annoying OC - she is my favourite character ever that I have created, and, like I said last chapter, I put my heart and soul into her and this story so it pleases me a lot that people like it. Anyway, on with the chapter! Please read and review.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

_**Marauder Philosophy**_

Sirius resurfaced from a particularly illuminating snogging session with his new piece of eye candy, Gloria. At least, he thought that was what her name was. It probably wasn't best for him to call her by that until he was absolutely sure that she was actually named Gloria. He had done that in the past – called a girl who was in fact named Dawn by the name Sasha, and his head hurt for two days afterwards. He gained no sympathy from his friends, either – James had been stalking Lily so was too busy occupying himself with that joyous task, Remus had raised his eyebrows and carried on reading his book, Peter sympathised with him for approximately two seconds and then went off to find some food and Isabel had just laughed when he suggested that she should provide him with some sympathy.

"Sirius, baby," the stunning girl-he-suspected-was-called-Gloria murmured in his ear seductively. Her previously carefully styled pale red hair was now loose around her shoulders and rather tousled.

"Yes, honey?" he asked, substituting the name for some random pet name that would suffice to keep the lovely hot girl happy.

"I love you," she whispered. Sirius' eyes widened – the girl-he-suspected-was-called-Gloria had said the L-word! In Sirius' eyes, that was like dropping an atomic bomb on his head. He didn't do regular relationships or _love_ – well, he'd never found a girl that had inspired him to stay with her longer than a week and to actually properly fall in love with her – so whenever a girl dropped the L-word bomb, it scared him and he usually scarpered - and this was no exception.

"Look, Gloria, what we had was nice, but–" Sirius began, his well-rehearsed speech regarding the dropping of L-word kicking in, but he was interrupted by the girl-he-suspected-was-called-Gloria-and-had-now-called-Gloria who had an extraordinarily angry look on her pretty face.

"_Gloria_? I'm not called Gloria! I'm in your year, you stupid arse – my name's Petra and I'm a Ravenclaw – and you have the cheek to call me Gloria?" the girl-who-he-had-suspected-was-called-Gloria-but-was-apparently-named-Petra bellowed.

"Sorry, Petra, what we had was nice, but we had a quick snog in the lavatory as it was the quietest place on the train. I don't think that really qualifies as creating a loving relationship," he said, somewhat patronisingly. Petra glared at him homicidally.

"So you thought I was some slut you could just snog with for an hour or two and then drop like a tonne of bricks?" she said accusingly. In Sirius' mind – that was exactly what he thought of her, except for the slut part; she had been the one that had flounced into his train carriage, flaunting all her curves and suggested that they went for the bloody snog in the first place. And then she had the cheek to call him an arse?

"Look, Petra, I don't think you can say you love me after an hour – and you were the one who came into our compartment and suggested our little get-together!" he retorted. He was standing alarmingly close to the actual toilet as Petra was making him slightly scared and he was backing up against the wall, as she was blocking the door.

"Sirius, I came into the carriage because I have liked you for ages! Can you not grasp the concept of liking someone and wanting a proper relationship with them?" she cried exasperatedly – Sirius hoped that nobody was standing outside the lavatory as they would probably be able to hear every word that was said as Petra's voice was not the quietest.

"I find girls stunning, and I like the ladies," Sirius said, "but I have not yet found a girl that I would like to enter a long-term relationship with. None of the other girls have minded."

"None of the other girls have _minded_?" Petra laughed maniacally. "Sure, because they're all bimbos who don't mind getting played by the infamous womanising Sirius Black, who's so utterly gorgeous and angelic looking that he could get with any girl. And it sickens me that you use that to your advantage."

"Hey, Petra, this isn't fair, don't go scrutinizing my character when I know for a fact that you flaunt your assets to get a date with whatever boy you want, okay? And yes, it may hurt some of the girls I get with that I don't want to take it further, but they know that's how I roll, how I act, so don't get in a hissy fit with me when you know that, honestly and truthfully, that was all you were really expecting from me," Sirius pointed out.

Petra's eyes flashed with a hundred different emotions running through them – but, like Sirius had requested, honestly and truthfully, that was all she was really expecting from him. He was renowned for being like that, and she had liked him and wanted to kiss him. It just hurt more than she expected to be thrust aside like that when she told him she loved him.

"So don't say that you love me when really, you like me and don't know what love is," Sirius concluded, and pushed past her to exit the toilets.

Petra knew what he was saying was so true, but she didn't want him to think that he had got the better of her – though one to flaunt her assets, in Sirius' hard words, she was a Ravenclaw and proud of it; so she did the most intelligent thing she could think of in about half a second – she raised her hand and slapped him hard across the cheek, and left the lavatory before he could get to the door.

Sirius smirked. He knew that he had got the better of Petra, and that what he had said had hit a nerve – she had slapped him to compensate for the fact that she couldn't say anything against it as it was the truth. Yes, she had slapped him, but he had been slapped countless times before.

He exited the lavatory – and reddened slightly at the small queue forming of first years who needed the toilet desperately – a tiny blonde boy rushing in as soon as Sirius had stepped out, evidently having waited a while whilst Sirius had had a little dispute with Petra.

"Aw, poor ickle Sirius has a red hand print across his ickle cheek!" Isabel mocked him as he entered the carriage, Petra's slap evident to those present.

"She didn't drop the–" James began to ask, acquainted very well with Sirius' rules of associating with the females of Hogwarts.

"The L-word bomb, yes," Sirius interrupted.

"Er, come again? The 'L-word bomb'?" Isabel asked, intrigued.

"She told me she _loved _me – stupid girl probably doesn't even know what love is," Sirius grumbled, seating himself back in his seat by Isabel – the mountain of sweets having been cleared by the ravenous sixteen-year-olds in the time he had gone.

"Oh, and do you know what love is?" Isabel responded.

"I don't know. I love my friends, but I wouldn't know what romantic love was. I haven't met the right person to show it to me yet," he answered truthfully.

That was what Isabel liked about Sirius – he may have been a womaniser, but he was honest and she respected that. He might be perceived as rude by some people, but Isabel liked it about him – he was also wicked funny and could never fail to make her laugh. Plus he was supremely intelligent without trying – a trait he and James shared. Isabel could probably pass her subjects well without putting much effort in, but she strived for excellence and wouldn't let anything below be good enough for her.

"So, what subjects is everybody taking this year?" James asked, changing the subject completely.

"Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Defence and Herbology," Sirius answered, leaving the philosophical conversation behind.

"Did you pass the OWL exams for them, then?" Peter asked. Peter struggled academically and was in awe of anybody who could actually pass an examination, as it was something he did not often find himself doing.

"Yep – I got 'Outstanding' in Defence, Transfiguration and Charms – plus 'Exceeds Expectations' in Herbology and Potions, and the rest of my other subjects. My only fails were Divination and History of Magic – I got a 'Troll' in Divination," Sirius laughed.

"Oh, I only got three OWLs out of the eight I studied for – and I only achieved 'Acceptable' in them," Peter commented glumly.

"Don't worry, Pete, I'm sure you tried your hardest," Isabel consoled him kindly. He beamed at her.

"What about you, Isabel?" James asked inquisitively.

"Quite the nosey one today, aren't you?" she widened her eyes, making Sirius laugh. "I'm taking quite a few subjects..."

"And by 'quite a few', does that mean every single one you studied for your OWLs?" Sirius grinned, knowing exactly what Isabel's definition of 'quite a few' entailed.

"Perhaps," she smiled enigmatically.

"So what exactly did you take for OWLs?" Peter questioned.

"What's this, twenty questions?" she chuckled. "I took Astronomy, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Charms, Defence, Divination, Herbology, History of Magic, Muggle Studies, Potions and Transfiguration," she said, counting off her eleven subjects on her fingers.

"Blimey, Izzy, that's virtually every subject available!" Sirius said in shock – and surprisingly, Isabel didn't reprimand him for using her nickname which was usually reserved only for Lily's use.

"Yes, well, I like to keep myself busy," Isabel defended herself.

"Please don't say you're studying all eleven for NEWT?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I'm dropping Divination," Isabel informed him.

"Oh, that'll make such a difference! Dropping one subject out of eleven!" he rolled his eyes mordantly. "And let me guess – 'Outstanding' in every subject?"

Isabel smiled shyly.

"Isabel – don't you know what the acronym NEWT stands for?" James said in utter exasperation.

"Yes, Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests," Isabel replied.

"And does the phrase 'Nastily Exhausting' mean nothing to you?" Sirius groaned, and Isabel chortled slightly.

"I'll just be rather busy this year..." she drifted off.

"Rather busy? Isabel, you'll miss our annual illegal Gryffindor parties! Sirius' birthday, my birthday, Lily's birthday, Remus', Peter's birthdays in the Room of Requirement! Random parties which we have for no reason but for the fact that we are bored! Hogsmeade weekends! What will you do if anybody asks you to go with them to Hogsmeade? You'll have so much work that you won't be able to go!" James reminded her.

"Well it's not very likely that somebody _will _ask me to go with them, is it?" Isabel retorted somewhat bitterly, then looked out into the hall. "Oh Sirius, is this another crazed obsessive?"

They all looked into the corridor to see a blonde girl leaning casually against the door, chatting to her equally attractive brunette friend.

"And that is my cue to go," Sirius grinned charmingly, "and I might be gone quite some time, what with there being two and all..."

"Perhaps you should save one for later, Sirius _baby_? Then you won't get two red cheeks when they both slap you," Isabel batted her eyelashes sweetly.

"Oh you're so funny, you know that?" he said sarcastically with a wink as he left the carriage.

"Now you really have to admire that boy's stamina – that's where all the food he eats must go," James said as if he had just discovered the secret of human existence.

"What, through excessive snogging?" Isabel snorted doubtfully.

"Hey look, Lily and Moony are back!" James said excitedly, scooting aside so that Lily could sit next to him. Lily actually sat in the seat and began gushing about some Hufflepuff seventh-year prefect who kept giving her the eye – something James wasn't too happy about.

"That's great, Lils," Isabel smirked as James was getting further and further irked by Lily's ecstatic and complimentary descriptions of the Hufflepuff prefect.

"I'm sure he's not as good as he sounds, Lily, what's his name again?" James asked fervently. Lily glared at him before saying,

"He's called Jonas Carmichael."

"Ah, Jonas Carmichael, one of the Hufflepuff Chasers. He's a really nasty piece of work, Lily, I wouldn't associate yourself with him if I were you," he said.

"Potter," she said, reverting back to using his surname instead of honouring him with the delight of calling him by his first, "I know what you're trying to do – and you can't discourage me from going out with him as you are not me and therefore do not govern my actions."

"Just trying to warn you Lily..." he said, holding his hands up in defence.

"Well don't," she concluded warningly.

"Lils – did you just say that you're going out with him?" Isabel asked excitedly.

"Yes, he asked me to sit with him at breakfast tomorrow morning! It's not a date, as such, but it's something, right?" Lily explained.

"No, that's great!" Isabel said happily. Maybe Jonas Carmichael would make Lily realise that she was head over heels for James – something she had not yet admitted to and something that Isabel wanted her desperately to admit to as James was like a little lovesick puppy who stalked her obsessively. It was quite cute, really. Isabel wished that she had somebody so utterly devoted to her that was nice, funny and intelligent. In fact, she wished she had somebody devoted to her at all.

"How far are we now?" Peter asked.

At this point, Sirius re-entered the carriage, swaggering slightly with a lazy grin on his gorgeous face.

"Have a good time?" James asked, sounding just as normal as if he was asking him if he had eaten a nice sandwich or something, not snogging his third girl in a row in approximately six hours.

"Yes, thank you," Sirius grinned. "And we're about half an hour away, I was just up by the driver's carriage..."

"So you mean to say that you have spent virtually the whole train journey snogging?" Isabel asked, with a hint of disgust and also disguised awe in her voice.

"Of course, would you expect anything less?" Sirius replied cockily, slapping his hand against James' in a high five. Remus looked slightly nauseous.

"So you spent all that time with your tongue down the throats of random girls?" Isabel continued.

"Time is kisses, my lovely friend," he said in an extremely philosophical voice.

"I'm not sure I like your philosophy," Isabel wrinkled her little nose.

"Ah, the delights of Marauder Philosophy – 'Time is kisses'; what a cracker!" Sirius smirked.

"Padfoot – for one thing, that did not make sense; for another, you cannot name 'Time is kisses' as a Marauder Philosophy because it is not something myself, Wormtail or probably even Prongs would engage with," Remus informed him.

"Prongs probably would, if he wasn't lusting after a certain redhead..." Sirius snorted with laughter as James shot a murderous glare at his supposed best friend.

"Anyway, enough with your disillusioned philosophies – there will come a day when Sirius cannot spend six hours kissing three different girls as they will not have him," Lily teased.

"Of course they will, who cannot resist the attentions of Sirius Black?" Sirius said arrogantly.

"Well, if they hear you speak like that, they won't!" Isabel laughed.

"Shall we go and change into our robes, Izzy, and leave these idiots – excluding Remus, of course – to change into theirs?" Lily asked.

Isabel smiled – Professor McGonagall would certainly not find her black jeans, scruffy grey baseball boots and bright turquoise v-neck jumper appropriate for the welcoming feast and sorting of the new first years.

Grabbing their bags, which contained their school uniform, the two girls left the compartment to go and find somewhere to change – at least they didn't have to worry about running into Sirius kissing anybody as he was back on his leash in the Marauders' compartment.

_

* * *

_

Thanks for reading! Please, please, PLEASE review, I'd love to know your thoughts :)

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	3. Sorting Memories

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Thank you to everybody who reviewed my story, added it to their alerts subscription and their favourites, I can't say how much I appreciate it, especially when I open my emails and see loads from fan fiction! I hope you like this chapter, please review!

* * *

**Chapter Three**

_**Sorting Memories**_

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years, over here!"

The voice of Hogwarts' gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid boomed across the hoards of students exiting the Hogwarts Express. He was standing, looking quite intimidating in the twilight atmosphere, but in actual fact had a heart of gold and wouldn't hurt a fly.

The timid little first years accumulated in front of Hagrid, all wearing their brand-new Hogwarts robes and looking extremely frightened – Hagrid's tall appearance didn't really help matters.

Lily, James, Remus, Peter, Sirius and Isabel jumped onto the platform, fully dressed in their robes – the casual jeans, t-shirts and scruffy shoes were now gone and had been replaced by trousers and skirts, shirts, smart shoes and their red and gold Gryffindor ties. They saw Hagrid, who beamed at them.

"Alrigh' there, you lot?" he asked kindly, and they nodded and replied their brief answers as they were herded up to catch the carriages. Lily looked to see if they could get in with their Ravenclaw friends – but Rosalind, her boyfriend, and their friends were just filling one of them. Petra, part of the little Ravenclaw group, jumped in as quickly as possible when she saw Sirius approaching, laughing and joking with Isabel.

Coming back and getting off of the Hogwarts Express every year on September the first reminded Isabel every year of the memories of her first journey to Hogwarts. She had known nobody as she entered Platform 93/4 with her parents – the children of her parents' friends were quite a lot younger than she was. Her parents had married two years after leaving school and then literally nine months later she was born. Isabel thought it was quite romantic as they had been together since fifth year at school – she didn't really know anyone who was together at school, apart from Rosalind and her new boyfriend, but that had stemmed from a summer fling as they lived near each other.

"Do you want to get in the carriage, Iz?" Sirius asked, bringing Isabel out of her random contemplations and ushering her into the carriage which Lily, James, Remus and Peter had already sat down inside.

"Oh yeah, sorry, in a world of my own – I feel sorry for the first years, looks like it's going to rain!" Isabel laughed.

"Remember when it was our first day? It bloody poured down!" Sirius reminisced.

Isabel remembered her first day very clearly – especially the train journey.

_Because of some miracle, Isabel had found herself actually carrying her trunk. The train was due to leave any second and she had said her goodbyes to her parents – she promised she'd see them at Christmas and would write regularly. Her lovely tawny owl Alethia was ready to send anything – as of yet she had not been able to make herself useful, thus causing much hooting and irritation for Isabel. _

"_Don't worry, Alethia, I'll send some post eventually, but I don't know anybody to send it to as of yet!" she growled at her rapidly maddening, hooting owl as she pulled her trunk down the aisle. Most of the other students had settled into carriages, and Isabel was worrying about where on earth she would be able to sit – without a doubt, there would be many others who didn't know anybody in the first year but Isabel couldn't see anybody with the same lost and alone look that she undoubtedly possessed at that moment in time. _

_As she passed full carriages of older students, she was beginning to panic. She had found that you could put your pets in a luggage carriage at the end of the train – where she had deposited Alethia, who hadn't been too happy about it – but now came back to the problem of where to sit. The train was just leaving the platform of nine and three-quarters, and she waved at her parents through the window as the train passed them. _

"_Well I don't know where I'm going to bloody sit..." she murmured anxiously as she was nearing the end of the train. _

_Finally, she reached the last carriage – thankfully it was full of friendly looking people who also looked as if they might be first years too. _

"_Excuse me, do you mind if I sit with you? Everywhere else is full," Isabel requested apologetically. A girl sat by the window with flaming red hair and sparkling green eyes smiled at her warmly._

"_Of course," she said. The four other boys present in the carriage nodded too, and Isabel moved her trunk so that she could get it into the compartment. She pushed it hard – and it fell over, bringing her down with it, at the feet of one of the boys. He was prematurely good looking, alarmingly so in fact. _

"_Would you like a little help?" he smirked, offering her his hand. Isabel took it, and he sat her down beside him whilst he and another boy, with messy black hair and glasses, lifted her trunk to put it on the luggage rack._

"_Thanks," she blushed, cursing herself for falling over in front of these people._

"_It's fine," the bespectacled boy grinned, "introductions... I'm James, James Potter."_

"_Nice to meet you James, James Potter," Isabel smiled impishly, causing the good looking boy to laugh heartily. "I'm Isabel Willoughby."_

"_Sirius Black," the good looking boy said, holding out his hand for her to shake. She did. _

"_This is Remus Lupin" – a sandy haired boy smiled kindly at her, lifting his head from his book – "and Peter Pettigrew," James continued, pointing at the remaining male in the carriage, a short, chubby boy who looked very nervous. _

"_And I'm Lily Evans," the red haired girl said. She was sat on the other side of Isabel, who was opposite James. _

"_Hang on... is that a Holyhead Harpies badge?" Sirius and James asked concurrently, then looking at the other, chuckled. Isabel looked down at her little shoulder bag she had bought onto the train, containing her copy of the _Daily Prophet_(there for Quidditch-related purposes only) and saw that she had left her badge of her favourite Quidditch team on it._

"_Yes, why, do you support them?" Isabel asked. This made James grin widely – Quidditch was his favourite conversational topic and he was never one to stop himself from praising his team, the Tutshill Tornadoes. _

"_No," he scoffed, "the Tornadoes! They rock my world!"_

"_Ah, that is where you are wrong, my dear James," Sirius interjected, making Lily and Isabel laugh, "the Montrose Magpies are the most successful team in the league ever, therefore making them the best team – they rock _my _world!"_

_James murmured something under his breath which sounded suspiciously like, "Glory hunter."_

"_Oh, you think I'm a glory hunter?" Sirius asked in a mock-annoyed voice._

"_Bring it on, Black!" James fake-growled. _

"_Alright then... MAGPIES!" Sirius hollered as loudly as possible, nearly deafening poor Isabel as her ear was quite close to his mouth as he yelled._

"_TORNADOES!" James countered, equally as loud._

"_MAGPIES!"_

"_TORNADOES!"_

"_MAGPIES!"_

"_TORNADOES!"_

"_I say... MAGPIES!"_

"_I say... TORNADOES!"_

"_I say... HARPIES!" Isabel joined in, causing Lily to laugh much more. Isabel decided that, though Lily hadn't said much, she liked her a lot and thought they would be close friends. _

_Sirius and James both looked at her. _

"_Shall we look at the League, then?" Isabel asked, producing her copy of the _Daily Prophet_from her shoulder bag and showing them the results of the last few matches. "Oh look, the Holyhead Harpies reign supreme and are beating both the Tornadoes and the Magpies!"_

_This silenced the two bickering boys, who looked at Isabel in awe, surprised that a girl could comprehend the importance of Quidditch. _

"_Is it me or did this girl drop from a Quidditch-flavoured heaven?" James asked Sirius. Remus rolled his eyes at the melodramatics of his new-found friends._

"_I think you are correct, James, old buddy old pal," Sirius grinned._

"_What – you like me because I like Quidditch? Shouldn't you look for better qualities in a friend than that?" Isabel asked, bewildered._

"_Nah, Quidditch is EVERYTHING!" James concluded._

"Of course I remember – you decided you both liked me because I liked Quidditch!" Isabel laughed.

"Oh yes, speaking of Quidditch, how are the Holyhead Harpies doing, Iz?" Sirius asked, adopting Lily's nickname again, something Isabel had discovered she didn't mind. "Looks like they got beaten by the Montrose Magpies in their match a few weeks ago!"

"You are so full of it!" Isabel teased.

"Wow... it's so beautiful..." Lily said dreamily – all of the people in the carriage turned to see what she was looking at: Hogwarts Castle. Isabel had found that there was only one sight which could rival that of the beautiful Hogwarts Castle against the night skyline, lights flickering welcomingly in all the windows and the Black Lake shimmering in the moonlight. And that sight was the one from the top of the cliffs, looking out to sea, a short walk away from her house on the Cornish coast.

"I don't know what I'll do when we finish school – I love this place," Sirius said.

"We'll go live somewhere cool together, Pads, with our girlfriends," James grinned, "perhaps somewhere on the coast!"

"Near a nudist beach, right?" Sirius laughed. "Hey Izzy... don't you live near the coast? Perhaps we could move in next door!"

"You can't move in next door – 'next door' is about three miles away, down a hill," Isabel chuckled.

"So you live in the middle of nowhere? Well, we'll just move in with you," Sirius concluded.

"Okay. Anyway, sorry to shatter your sleazy, hormone-fuelled illusions, Sirius, but there are no nudist beaches near where I live," Isabel informed him.

"Damn. I'll still come and live with you, though," he winked, and Isabel chortled.

"Actually – my parents said that at Easter, as I'm seventeen and coming of age and all, you can all come to my house for the holidays and we can hang out on the beach and stuff," Isabel said. Choruses of "Wow!" and "Cool!" rang out.

"Yay! Partying at Izzy's house and raves on a nudist beach! My kind of holiday!" Sirius said excitedly and suggestively.

"How many times do I have to tell you that there is not a nudist beach near my house?" Isabel said exasperatedly.

"BRAINWAVE!" Sirius bellowed. "We'll make one! We just need to run down to the beach, strip, do a little bit of skinny dipping, invite some hot randomers..." he continued dreamily.

"Whoa! Sorry, but I am going to interrupt your sordid little fantasies about naked women and tell you right now that we are NOT going to create a nudist beach – and that includes stripping and skinny dipping. I, for one, am not going to parade around naked in front of you," Isabel said sharply.

"Um... could it just be me and the hot randomers?" Sirius pleaded desperately.

"You actually disgust me, do you know that?" Isabel snorted.

"I think you'll find that's the second time you've said that today," Lily informed her, looking amused.

"Well you disgust me very much then!" Isabel laughed.

"Aw, Izzy, you know you love me really!" he said arrogantly before jumping out of the carriage – it appeared they had already reached Hogwarts. Isabel could see the little fleet of boats containing the shivering first years crossing the Black Lake, and thought back to when that was her.

_Lily and Isabel stood close together as Hagrid led them from the station towards the boats that they would be sailing in to Hogwarts. They couldn't even see the castle yet – they were getting increasingly agitated because it was raining heavily, thus they were very cold and they wanted to catch a glimpse of their home for the next seven years, minus holiday times. Sirius, James, Remus and Peter were stood behind them, anxious as they were – even the cocky, self-assured Sirius – about the foul weather and wanting to see the castle. _

_They certainly weren't disappointed as they turned a corner and got a full view of the beautiful castle that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Welcoming orange and yellow lights flickered at windows and the mass of towers and turrets stood, not ominously, but enchantingly. _

"_Four to a boat!" Hagrid called – James, Sirius, Remus and Peter immediately ran to a boat together, whilst Isabel looked around nervously – the only other person she was acquainted with was Lily, and they obviously weren't a four, and needed two other people._

"_Oh, Isabel, come with me," Lily whispered, and grabbing Isabel's hand, led her over to a boy with greasy black hair and a hooked nose. _

"_Hello Lily," the boy said in a voice that was obviously meant as a pleasant remark but was tainted with something unpleasant which Isabel could not quite identify. _

"_Hi Sev – Sev, this is Isabel Willoughby; Isabel, this is Severus Snape. Sev, do you mind us sharing a boat with you?" Lily asked. The boy flashed a quick, if not entirely kind, smile at Isabel, which she returned, and the three clambered into a boat. Due to an odd number of students, they were fine as a three._

_The rain hammered down on the first years sitting in the boat – Isabel's curly chocolate brown hair was plastered to her pale face and she was shivering badly. _

"_I suppose the castle, at least, will be warm and dry," Lily whispered, making Isabel smile. _

The light, warm Great Hall was a thoroughly welcome sight as the six young Gryffindors entered it and took their places at the table. It was accompanied by James and Sirius sending a couple of homicidal glares in the direction of the Slytherin table – mostly directed at Severus Snape and his pureblood maniac friends. Lily had, since their first year, extinguished her friendship with Severus Snape. This was due to her defending him when Sirius and James had taken it upon themselves to hex him and then he threw it back in her face when he called her a "Mudblood," in front of everybody. Friends didn't do that kind of thing.

"I hope Dumbledore's speeches don't last very long, I'm starving!" Sirius muttered, causing Isabel to snort with laughter, earning some withering looks from the Professors at the staff table.

The doors banged open, and the little first years entered, looking around meekly.

"When I call your name, you will come forth, I will place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses," Professor McGonagall said somewhat sternly.

The scared first years were deathly silent as Professor McGonagall cast her eyes down the list of names.

"_Albert, Benjamin_!"

The first to be sorted, a tall blonde boy, sauntered up to the chair a little overconfidently, and after a little disapproving wrinkle of her nose, McGonagall placed the hat on his head – it was after a matter of seconds that it yelled,

"SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherin table cheered – and James and Sirius booed, though stopped when Isabel kicked them both hard in the shins, and looked as if they might cry. For such a skinny girl who seemed to possess no kind of bodily strength, Isabel had a good kick – something which was advantageous in any fight with a Slytherin; not that she was prone to fighting, except in the one case, when she had been cheered on ardently by the Marauders when she was trying desperately to injure Narcissa Black, a cousin of Sirius' who was extremely horrible.

"_Banks, Aretha_!"

A small black girl with braided hair finished with brightly coloured beads bounded up to the seat enthusiastically, and was proclaimed to be a "RAVENCLAW!"

"_Bennet, Marianne_" became the first Gryffindor after two were placed in Hufflepuff – followed quickly by "_Dashwood, Liam_", "_Fitzpatrick, Annie_", "_Jackson, Lucy-Rose_" and "_Goldman, Barry_".

The Marauders, Lily and Isabel cheered loudly for the new Gryffindors, who smiled at them timidly as they sat down at the table – the first years were next to them, in fact, and had left big gaps between themselves and Isabel and James, who were sat on the end.

"_Peace, Bessie_!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"_Price, Robert_!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"_Sanchez, Evelina_!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheers erupted along the Gryffindor table, with James and Sirius taking it slightly overboard and jumping onto their seats, doing a little victory dance. Evelina Sanchez blushed as she took a seat next to Isabel – the fact that two ever so good looking boys were cheering so happily at her arrival into their house and that they appeared to be ever so slightly mad must have been daunting for her. Isabel smiled at her warmly, and said to her,

"Don't worry, they're only let out of the asylum once a week," causing Evelina to giggle nervously.

"_Sanderson, James_!"

"Ooh look, Prongsy, this could be your little prodigy!" Sirius said excitedly as a tall boy with messy brown hair ran up to the stool, and had the hat placed upon his head. He even wore glasses like James, but they weren't rounded, were more of a rectangular shape.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled, and Sirius and James once again did their little jig, and invited the newly sorted James Sanderson to sit with them, and immediately introduced themselves.

"Hello, I'm James Potter, prankster extraordinaire," James said warmly, shaking the first year James' hand.

"And I'm Sirius Black–" Sirius began, but Isabel cut across him with a roguish grin.

"He's a womanising extraordinaire," she added, and the mini James grinned at all three of them.

"This is our good friend, Isabel Willoughby, she's a, erm..." James drifted off, not quite sure what Isabel could be classified as an 'extraordinaire' at.

"An academic extraordinaire!" Sirius beamed at her. Quick introductions of Remus and Peter followed, and then James turned to introduce Lily to the mini James.

"This is Lily Evans, she's the most beautiful creature ever, the love of my life and my future wife," he said adoringly, earning a slap round the back of the head from Lily – who despite the slap, looked highly amused.

"And don't worry, if you hit on Lily, you'll get whacked too, she doesn't just reserve it for me," James added, causing the mini James to laugh heartily.

When they had finished laughing, including Lily, the sorting had finished and Professor Dumbledore began speaking to them.

"I know you are probably ravenous – particular students could be named for being constantly ravenous but we do not have the time – so I will save all speaking formalities and notices until after the feast. Enjoy!" he said, standing in front of the teacher's table, wearing silver and purple star-spangled robes that glittered in the candle light.

The food appeared in front of all of the students at their tables, and Sirius instantly grabbed enough food for an army and piled it onto his plate.

"I would say 'you disgust me', but then I'd sound like a broken record," Isabel smirked as Sirius looked up at her innocently, whilst halfway through eating a mountain of roast potatoes covered in gravy. In fact, everything on his plate had been covered by liberal amounts of gravy as he had poured it on like there was no tomorrow.

"I am a growing boy!" he said in defence.

"Growing boy? You're what, six foot three? I'm still a growing girl, I'm only about five foot ten!" Isabel responded.

"Padfoot – you have used that excuse since you were eleven," Peter pointed out.

"Yes, but I have been growing since I was eleven, haven't I?" Sirius said in despair at the apparent ignorance of his friends.

"As I said, you are six foot three. You cannot grow much more," Isabel said slowly and clearly, as if she was talking to an imbecile.

"I'm growing in more ways than one," he winked.

"UGH! YOU ARE NAUSEATING!" Isabel bellowed, in a slightly louder voice than intended – the whole hall fell silent and looked to the rapidly reddening Isabel and Sirius Black, who was laughing in his dinner and looked like he was about to fall on the floor he was laughing so much.

"It's okay, nothing to stare at here, Iz was just, er, telling me off," Sirius said.

"Yes, Miss Willoughby, I'm glad that you can be responsible for giving Mr Black his first telling off of the year," Professor Dumbledore said, blue eyes twinkling. Isabel blushed and everybody went back to eating.

"I will get you, later, you know that?" Isabel hissed scathingly as the puddings appeared on the table and Sirius went straight for a large chocolate fudge gateau with about six layers on it, and cut himself three pieces.

_

* * *

_

Thanks for reading - I'd love to get 30 reviews... hint, hint... anyway, please review to get the next chapter, which involves Isabel formulating a plan and Lily making a shock confession...

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	4. The Forbidden Proclamation

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Thank you for the reviews, favourites and alerts! I really appreciate it :) I hope you like this chapter, it involves Isabel cooking up her plan and Lily making a shocking confession... enjoy!!!

* * *

**Chapter Four**

_**The Forbidden Proclamation**_

As Isabel unpacked her white and purple pyjamas from her trunk, she thought about how to get her own back on Sirius. After dinner, Sirius had sidled up to a fifth year Hufflepuff and gone off to 'bond' in some random broom cupboard, and, upon coming back to the common room around nine – without any hand prints on his face, obviously this one wasn't bothered by Sirius' random girl policies – a pretty fourth year with large brown eyes and bleached blonde hair and flirted with him outrageously, sitting on his lap and giggling in an annoying fake manner at everything he said. He seemed to find her interesting enough and whilst James and Isabel got into a game of Wizard's Chess, Peter was playing Exploding Snap with a fifth year called Frank Longbottom and Lily and Remus were reading, he engaged in a particularly passionate kissing session with her in his armchair by the fire, in front of everybody.

Five girls in one day had to be Sirius' record. Isabel couldn't fathom how he did it – one shake of his silky dark curly hair and a wink from those stormy grey eyes and he had the girls falling for him. Damn it, he even had a little fan club amongst the younger years – once they entered fourth year, they were of a suitable age to 'liaise' with him but before then they had to be giggling fan girls. Though he was her best friend, aside from Lily, she was sick of his little systems relating to girls. He never engaged in any relationships and she wanted to make him fall in love with a girl.

Not quite sure of how it could be done, Isabel emptied her shoulder bag from earlier – placing the copy of the _Daily Prophet _on her bedside cabinet – and when she pulled out the turquoise jumper she had been wearing, she saw that there were some long blonde hairs stuck to it. Wondering where they had possibly come from – she remembered the stunning blonde girl who had bumped into her at King's Cross. They must have been hers!

Then it came to her, in a flash of light. Exactly how she could get back at Sirius. The perfect way to make him fall in love.

_Polyjuice Potion_.

Why hadn't she thought of it before? It was so simple...

She could make Sirius fall in love with this girl, or at least sustain a relationship longer than a week with her. She wanted to prove to Sirius that girls were more than playthings and had feelings as well as their looks.

Isabel carefully extricated the few long blonde hairs from her jumper and put them onto a piece of parchment, folded it up and placed it in her drawer. Polyjuice Potion took at least a month to brew, as everything had to be done at the right time. Isabel would have to acquaint Lily with the idea of brewing the potion – she was her roommate, best friend and excellent potioneer thus would need to be in on parts of the plan; but then again, Isabel thought, she was a good enough potioneer herself...

And it was likely the boys would come in Lily and Isabel's room – somehow they had found a way of getting past the staircase turning into a slide – so she would need a good place to hide it whilst it was stewing.

Seeing as she didn't know the blonde girl's name, she would have to invent one. And invent random stories about why she wasn't always around or he hadn't noticed her before.

Lying in her bed, Isabel pondered these things. She decided to call her Amanda, with a surname of Burke, and a middle name of Catherine. Amanda Catherine Burke was a good-sounding name, and fitting for the striking blonde girl who had bumped into Isabel at the station.

She couldn't get away with passing Amanda off as a Gryffindor student otherwise Sirius would get too suspicious. Perhaps Hufflepuff, as Sirius didn't tend to associate with Hufflepuff as much as he did Ravenclaw – well, he kissed random Hufflepuff girls but he didn't really get along with anybody in that house so it was the safest bet. It meant that Isabel would have to procure a Hufflepuff uniform from the laundry, which would be easy enough.

And she came up with a few stories about why she wouldn't always be there – Amanda had previously been a dowdy brunette but over the summer had developed curves (from what she remembered from earlier, considerable curves that were much larger than Isabel's, which could be potentially problematic) and had dyed her hair blonde, thus looking entirely different from before. It would work out – Isabel hoped. She sighed. Hopefully it would.

"Izzy..." she heard Lily's voice from her bed. Isabel sat up and looked in the direction of her best friend, who was now wearing bright blue pyjamas and her copper hair was tied back in a messy bun.

"Yes, Lils?" she replied.

"Don't you think James was very polite and well-mannered today? Apart from his introduction of me at dinner, obviously," Lily said, almost as if she was trying to remind herself, not Isabel.

Isabel raised her eyebrows. Was Lily complimenting James Potter... willingly?

"Yes, I suppose he was. And even you have to admit Lily, he was very amusing at dinner. He seems to have taken the little James Sanderson under his wing, like his little prodigy," Isabel answered.

"It was quite sweet really," Lily commented.

"And he looks absolutely gorgeous, don't you think, Lils? His hair looks very–" Isabel began, heavily amused.

"Sexy, I know. And his eyes are so... sparkly," Lily interrupted. Isabel opened her mouth in shock... was Lily practically on the way to declaring her love for James? Isabel had waited for this moment since first year!

"Yes, that hazel colour is certainly very yummy," Isabel prompted, smiling widely.

"I know, and he's so tall and attractive... not to mention smart–" Lily continued.

"Funny," Isabel added.

"Imaginative."

"Hilarious."

"Clever."

"Intellectual."

"Gorgeous, comical, striking, laughable, dazzling, lovely..." Lily drifted off in a dreamy tone.

"Lily Evans... are you _in love_ with the delectable James Potter?" Isabel asked inquisitively.

Lily paused bashfully.

"Oh my Merlin, Lils, you are in love with James! This is such a momentous occasion! I need to jump on my bed and tell the world!" Isabel proclaimed dramatically, and clambered up so she was standing on the bed and began to jump, yelling, "LILY LURVES JAMES! LILS LOVES JAMESY!" causing Lily to shake with laughter.

"I PROCLAIM TO GRYFFINDOR TOWER THAT LILY EVANS IS IN LOVE WITH JAMES POTTER AND THIS WAS NOT UNDER COERCION!" Isabel howled.

Suddenly, the two girls heard thundering footsteps coming up the staircase outside – they looked at each other in alarm and got into bed, extinguishing the lights and pretending to be asleep.

The door of their room burst open, and four shapes stood against the light outside.

"Did I just hear correctly?" the girls heard Sirius say.

"They look pretty asleep to me, Pads, perhaps we were hearing things?" they heard Remus suggest.

"We were not hearing things, Moony, I swear Isabel was howling and yelled 'I proclaim to Gryffindor tower that Lily Evans is in love with James Potter and this was not under coercion!'" James hissed.

Isabel heard Lily gasp quietly and silently chastised herself. She hadn't _meant_ to yell it so loud that James and the Marauders had actually heard.

"I swear I just heard a noise and these girls aren't really asleep," Sirius whispered suspiciously to the other boys, and Isabel stifled a laugh. The whole 'Inspector' thing couldn't be done by Sirius without any hilarity involved.

"Nah, they're asleep Pads, let's go," James said, and the four boys left and shut the door behind them. The two girls lay in deathly quiet until they heard footsteps running down the stairs.

Lily muttered a spell and the lights turned back on and Isabel stood up, Lily was sat on her bed holding her head in her hands.

"Lils I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to shout it so the whole tower could actually hear me... anyway, don't you want him to know?" Isabel asked.

"Well, yes, but I would rather it was more romantic than this!" Lily wailed. Suddenly, without warning, the door burst open again and the Marauders entered.

"Ha! I _knew_ they weren't asleep!" Sirius grinned, and did a crazy little jig in the middle of the room, then flopped down on Isabel's bed. "Nice pyjamas, Izzy."

Isabel looked down at the white vest top and the purple full length striped bottoms that were patterned with sheep also. "Thanks," she smiled, and turned back to Lily, who was practically quivering in her blue t-shirt and shorts.

"So... Isabel, did you actually just shout 'I proclaim to Gryffindor tower that Lily Evans is in love with James Potter and this was not under coercion!'?" James asked, his eyes glinting in excitement.

"Er, define actually _shouting_..." Isabel pulled a face.

"OH MERLIN YOU DID!" Sirius bellowed. James grinned wider than Isabel ever thought somebody could grin.

"Lily... do you like me?" James smiled. Lily looked up at him, her green eyes wide and vulnerable. She looked over at Isabel – obviously not wanting the other Marauders and Isabel sitting in on this romantic, or perhaps totally humiliating, moment.

"Right guys, fancy a game of Exploding Snap in the common room?" Isabel asked brightly.

"Er, no, thanks..." Peter said, watching the scene between James and Lily with interest.

"Come on, we're playing Exploding Snap!" Isabel said finally, grabbing Sirius' arm, who pulled Remus and Peter along, leaving James and Lily alone in the girls' room.

"You do know it's like half eleven?" Peter moaned as they entered the common room which was, thankfully, empty. It looked a little strange with Isabel in her pyjamas, playing Exploding Snap with Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"Wormtail! We need to leave Prongs and Lily alone!" Sirius enlightened him, and Peter nodded knowledgeably. Isabel rolled her eyes, and got the game out.

Half an hour later, Isabel was practically falling asleep on Sirius, and Peter was already snoring in his armchair.

"Come on, they must be done sorting everything by now!" Remus said, and Sirius helped Isabel get up, and Remus poked Peter (gently!) and got him up.

"You go up to our room," Sirius said to Remus and Peter, "I'll take Iz up, she's going to fall asleep at any second!"

The two boys obliged and Sirius lifted Isabel up and took her up the staircase – ending up climbing up the side with Isabel in his arms to avoid the staircase turning into a slide – and pushed the door of the girls' room open, to find James sitting by Lily on her bed, and kissing her passionately.

"Ooh, sorry, Prongs, Lily, but Isabel was falling asleep on me – so I guess you finally got Lily, then, eh?" he grinned – James returned the gesture and Lily blushed.

"He's right, Lil, it's getting late – goodnight," James smiled, kissing her tenderly once more and then letting go of her hand as he left the room. Sirius placed Isabel, who was now fast asleep, on her bed, muttered a "Goodnight, Lily," before leaving.

"This has to be the best day of my life..." Lily murmured before dropping off into a dreamful sleep – that was mostly centred upon her new boyfriend, James Potter – all thought of Jonas Carmichael out of her head.

_

* * *

_

_Hope you liked that! Please review to get the next chapter, which involves Isabel going on an early morning run and bumping into somebody who seems to take a particular interest in her... Please could we get to 40 reviews? I'd love to get at least 10 reviews per chapter! Thanks for reading,_

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	5. Pleasantly Surprised

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Thanks to everybody who reviewed the last chapter - Suni-Dlight, Stephie Cat-Kat, ., sarlovesoccer, Fatal Revolution, .limits111, MoDuine and Sam-EvansBlue; and thank you to MoDuine for adding my story to her alert subscriptions and to Sam-EvansBlue for adding my story to her favourites. On with the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter Five**

_**Pleasantly Surprised**_

Isabel awoke the next morning frighteningly early. It was not exactly customary for her to wake up any earlier than eight o'clock – causing much hysteria on Lily's part, who was the usually early riser, who must have tried at least six million methods of trying to get Isabel to wake up on time.

She pushed her hair – which seemed to be very messy and untameable – out of her delicate face and looked over at Lily's bed. Lily had fallen asleep with the curtains on her four poster open, one arm trailing the floor and a little smile playing upon her lips. Isabel suppressed a giggle. Who knew Lily Evans could become so infatuated with James Potter? After all the protestations – and occasional injuring of James (Lily's personal favourite was to whack him over the back of his head, but he was often slapped around his face if he made a particularly embarrassing or suggestive comment. Isabel didn't know why he did it – though she had a sneaking suspicion that Sirius had something to do with it) – Lily had finally admitted that she liked him.

Isabel pushed all thought of Lily and James out of her head momentarily to glance at the clock on her bedside table – which declared to her that the time was five minutes past six. In the morning. She sighed, thinking, who would ever wake at such an ungodly hour as this?

She rolled over, wrapping herself back up in her warm duvet, and closed her blue eyes to see if she could drop back off to sleep. After fifteen minutes, it appeared that her efforts were to no avail and she sat up, pushing the heavy bed covers off of her.

Breakfast didn't start for another forty minutes, and she couldn't just sit in her room until then, as Lily would probably be getting ready (probably taking much longer than usual in order to impress James in her first day as his girlfriend), thus she would be intolerably bored. Lessons didn't start until half past eight either, so she might as well do something useful with her time.

Coming to a quick decision, Isabel jumped out of bed, lifted open her trunk and pulled out some shorts and a t-shirt with her favourite band (The Who) on it, changed out of her sheep-patterned pyjamas that had been such a source of amusement for Sirius the night before and into the clothes she had just picked out. She shoved her feet into a pair of trainers she used at home – purely for playing tennis and any running or jogging she did – and tied her hair back in a ponytail.

Looking back at Lily before she left their bedroom, she quickly scribbled a note on a plain piece of parchment that was on top of Lily's trunk: '_Morning Lils, Woke up really early so went out for a run before breakfast. Have fun preening yourself for dear Jamesy, so glad you're FINALLY together! See you in a bit, Love Izzy x_'.

She laughed quietly as she spellotaped it to Lily's bottle of perfume on her bedside table, and then left the room. She peeked into the common room before entering – there was nobody there. Isabel rolled her eyes at her own thinking – why would anybody be there at the aforementioned ungodly hour?

Isabel ran through the common room and exited through the portrait hole; she carried on running through the corridors until she reached the main doors in the Entrance Hall. She pushed them open, and let herself outside.

The cool early morning air was refreshing – she closed her eyes for a moment and then launched into a run, aiming for the lake, so she could run around it.

Isabel didn't really know why she enjoyed running. She hadn't really attempted it for quite a while at Hogwarts because she always used to bump into really good-looking people when she was all red and looking not-very-nice and there was one unfortunate incident when she had run into Sirius – though he was her closest friend after Lily, so technically this shouldn't have mattered but it did – and had forgotten to put a bra on before leaving her room. Isabel was definitely sure she was not curvy in the least – especially in comparison to some of the other girls in years much lower than hers – but she still needed one and she had blushed bright red when she saw Sirius running towards her when she was in a baggy t-shirt, bra-less and in shorts.

Luckily, Isabel had not let there be a repeat of that particular incident. Anyway, not many people ran round Hogwarts grounds early in the mornings. Isabel liked having it to herself – it being the second of September, it was destined to be a warm day (the sun looked very bright in the sky already) so the cool breeze was welcome.

Isabel reached the tree that was by the lake – the favourite place of the Marauders where they liked to sit at lunchtimes (provided it was not snowing, raining or was cold in anyway. For such masculine men, Isabel thought they behaved like a bunch of girls at times) and the place where Isabel often came and sat down to chat with them; but it was mainly to chat with Sirius. She got on very well with James, who was a laugh and a half and now the boyfriend of her best friend, and Remus, who was great to chat to about more serious stuff like school work and things, and she didn't really know how to take Peter – he was very meek, timid and not very bright and a lot of the communication between her and Peter was often out of sympathy.

She looked out across the Black Lake, smiled slightly at the beauty of the scene, and carried on. Somehow, running was a little bit of a stress reliever. And though she was not under much stress as of yet, studying for ten NEWTs would undoubtedly bring her body-crushing stress. But, owing to the fact that she had her secret ambitions of becoming either an Auror or a writer for the _Daily Prophet_, she wanted as many qualifications as possible. They were two entirely different jobs, but being an Auror was terribly difficult to get into even if you had outstanding qualifications and then if she had good marks in all of her exams, it would make it easy for her to get a writing job at the _Daily Prophet _if she was refused by the Auror office at the Ministry of Magic.

As she was so immersed in her thoughts, Isabel didn't realise that she was running towards a very tall, good-looking boy with dark hair that was looking at her in a bewildered manner. She looked pretty demented, to be honest – her face was screwed up in concentration and her eyes were glazed over as she wasn't taking noticed of her surroundings; except perhaps the borders of the lake, so she didn't fall in. In fact, she was so deeply in thought that she ran straight into said tall, good-looking boy with dark hair.

"Oh bloody hell; I'm so sorry," she gushed, picking herself up as she had fallen onto the floor.

"It's alright," the boy said, offering his hand to her in help.

She looked up at him, and smiled gratefully. "Thanks – sorry, I was so deep in thought I didn't notice you were there!"

"I wouldn't worry, it's _absolutely _fine," the boy said, smiling widely as he took in the girl's appearance – her face was makeup free, but her skin was glowing and her sapphire eyes lit up her whole face prettily, and her smile was exceedingly beatific. So he had just had a very good-looking girl run into him; it was more than fine.

"You know how it is – I'm still slightly asleep, er, I'm sorry, I don't know your name," Isabel apologised.

"Oh, Jonas, Jonas Carmichael," he grinned in what he hoped was an enchanting manner, extending his hand for her to shake, which she did. He noticed that she was slim, and though tall, she had small hands which his completely engulfed.

"Ah, Hufflepuff prefect, seventh year?" Isabel said knowledgeably. He raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Oh, my friend, Lily Evans, said she sat near you in the prefect meeting. And aren't you a Chaser on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team?"

"Yes, I am," Jonas replied. "And you are Isabel Willoughby, if I'm not mistaken?"

He hadn't recognised her until she said about Lily and Quidditch – she looked very different to when he had last seen her, in June, at the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Isabel, along with Sirius Black, was a beater. So therefore, the Captain of the Hufflepuff team (Jonas' friend, Gabrielle Whyte) had made it essential that all of the team knew exactly who they were facing each match. Jonas had always particularly favoured the flame-haired friend of Isabel's – but she just looked so good. Obviously the two months they had just had off had done her good, as she didn't look stressed (rumour had it she was about to study for _ten _NEWTs!) and looked slightly carefree and relaxed. Plus, the running she had just done had completely lit up her complexion and she just looked really pretty.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I forgot who you were, I'm terrible!" she laughed. "You look quite different to last year!"

"I don't think I'm the only one," Jonas grinned at her attractively. She blushed.

"Lily was telling us all about you in the meeting yesterday on the train," Isabel informed him – thinking she should tell him that Lily was now the girlfriend of one James Potter that she had seemed to hate until about eleven o'clock last night.

"Oh Merlin no... I kept catching her eye and grinning at her! I bet I looked like such a maniac!" Jonas groaned – he had been making eyes at Lily, she was definitely one of the prettiest girls in the school, but he kind of regretted it now he had bumped into her charming friend.

"No, she was full of it," Isabel giggled, "but I've kind of got some bad news for you – she's sort of taken, as of last night."

Jonas was surprised that this didn't make him feel anything except happiness. Yes he _liked _Lily, a lot, but his little crush on her had calmed down considerably since last year and now she was just like a friend. Well, she was sort of his friend anyway, as they both did some of the prefect things together – Jonas got on quite well with Remus Lupin, the other Gryffindor prefect, and Lily was able to chat to Jonas' fellow Hufflepuff prefect, Victoria Walsh, quite friendlily so they often talked at meetings.

"Oh really? By who – don't tell me she gave into Potter!" Jonas grinned. Everybody at Hogwarts knew that Lily hated James, who had practically stalked her since their first year, begging her to go out with him at least ten times a day. Jonas didn't understand why he persisted when Lily was clearly not interested – according to Victoria, James was attractive and had his own little fan club of female students who would adore a date with him (much like his best friend Sirius Black – the difference was that Sirius actually did involve himself with the girls in his little fan club, though not necessarily taking it as far as a date when there was an empty broom cupboard near and the girl was a good kisser) but had denied all of them in his quest for Lily's love.

"Um, yes," Isabel said.

"Bloody Merlin!" Jonas laughed.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said, I know you probably like her... most lads do..." Isabel drifted off, not bitterly.

"Nah, I used to, but she's my friend and that's all she'll stay," Jonas reassured her. He watched Isabel's eyes brighten at this. Inwardly, he cheered.

"Well I'm glad, I thought you might be a bit upset – I have an inkling that James and Lily are made for each other," she said, eyes twinkling.

"You know, I think that is something everyone can agree on," Jonas smiled.

"I for one am so glad that she finally admitted she liked him! It was driving me crazy!" Isabel shivered. Jonas chuckled. "I'm sorry, I don't know if I should be telling you all of this!"

"Oh, don't worry, I don't mind – I won't tell anyone," Jonas said encouragingly.

"Thanks," Isabel grinned. "Anyway, I'd better be carrying on with my run, I'll need to get back and shower before breakfast – and dear Lily will probably be awake!"

"Okay, which direction are you going in?" Jonas asked hopefully. Perhaps he could tag along with the lovely Isabel...

"Oh, I was going to run the rest of the distance around the lake and then past the greenhouses, then back to the castle," Isabel answered.

"Do you mind if I run with you? It's quite boring running by yourself," Jonas said, not mentioning the fact that he had already run around the lake twice and was reasonably tired, and only about five minutes from being able to relax.

"Yes, if you like," Isabel smiled, and carried on. Jonas had to admit, she was fast, and kept her pace up well. Plus she had very good legs, and those shorts she was wearing showcased them extremely well.

_

* * *

_

I hope you don't find Jonas annoying - I kind of stole his surname from one of the dads in Mamma Mia!_, which is an absolutely amazing film, I envy anybody who's seen it on the stage! He's supposed to be a nice kind of guy but not really anything too striking, not as good as Sirius! Thanks for reading, please review for the next chapter, which involves Lily and James' first date!_

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	6. The First Date

****

You Leave Me Breathless

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Sorry I didn't update earlier, it's been non-stop since I got home from school! And I am officially on holiday now - and although I have to revise and do some work, and Christmassy stuff, I can do some more writing and hopefully start some more fanfics to be posted in the future! Anyway, thanks for all your support so far, I really appreciate it! Thank you to MaloryCullen14, ., LaughingAngelsGibberish, Sam-EvansBlue, sarlovesoccer, .limits111, LittleRed22, Stephie Cat-Kat and MoDuine for reviewing and thank you to BeWithoutYou9, LaughingAngelsGibberish, LittleRed22, My Kind Of Paradise, OnlyMusicOnMyMind and Thy Crimson Butterfly for adding my story to your alert subscriptions! On with the chapter...

* * *

**Chapter Six**

_**First Date**_

When Isabel entered the room she shared with Lily that evening, it looked as if somebody had blasted apart both Lily and Isabel's wardrobes using '_Bombarda Maxima_;' clothes, shoes and accessories were everywhere, and Lily was in the middle of it, looking incredibly nervous and worried.

"Er, Lils?" Isabel asked cautiously, dropping her schoolbag down by the door, forgetting all about the numerous essays she had to write.

Lily looked up, and grinned weakly at her.

"Lils, what's the matter?" Isabel questioned, concerned for her friend who looked simultaneously as if she was going to throw up due to nerves or jump up and down madly due to an excessive amount of joy.

"James asked me on a date this evening," Lily murmured, throwing three pairs of shoes off the bed she was sitting on (Isabel's, though you wouldn't have recognised it as Isabel's as it was completely covered in clothes) and looking around the room in despair.

"Ooh, where to?" Isabel asked – anybody else would assume that they would just be in the common room or outside but Isabel knew better. When you were friends with the Marauders, you sort of worked out that they could get anywhere or do anything that people thought impossible. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had frequently taken Isabel (and sometimes Lily) out to Hogsmeade at night – they knew several secret passageways around school and out of school, which they had culminated and drawn onto a magical map they had created entitled the _Marauder's Map_. So theoretically, James could be taking Lily to Hogsmeade.

"I don't know, he said it was a surprise, but we're skipping dinner," Lily told me as she picked up a navy blue dress which Isabel recognised as her own.

"So, I'm gathering that you are struggling to work out what to wear?" Isabel asked understandingly.

"Merlin yes! I thought I hated James before but now I'm going out with him he is making me breathless! I really want to impress him with what I wear but I'm having a bit of a clothing dilemma and can't work out what to wear!" Lily babbled hysterically, "and I have about half an hour before I'm due to meet him!"

"Okay, Lils, first of all, _calm down and breathe_," Isabel said, moving some of the clothes off the bed. Lily breathed deeply. "Do you want me to pick you something to wear?"

"Yes please," Lily whispered.

Isabel started sifting through the clothes systematically whilst Lily sat chewing her fingernails, a habit Isabel was tired of reminding her to cease doing.

Five minutes later, Isabel had put together the perfect outfit for Lily's first date with James. She held it up for Lily to approve or disapprove of – it was a white skirt that came to about two inches above Lily's knees that was of a kind of textured material that felt really nice, coupled with a grey and silver sparkly sleeveless top with a jewelled neckline and greyish lilac suede ballet pumps.

"Oh Izzy, that's perfect!" Lily gushed, and immediately went into the bathroom to put it on. When she emerged, she looked lovely, not too polished but really pretty. Isabel tied Lily's slightly wavy dark red hair into a messy bun with a few tendrils left down, framing her face, and did a little French plait across her forehead.

"Are you going to put on any makeup?" Isabel asked, observing the time – the clock indicated that in five minutes, Lily should really go and meet James.

"Just a little bit," Lily concluded, putting the slightest amount of mascara on her already long eyelashes and applying a little bit of clear lip gloss. She turned to look at Isabel expectantly. "Do I look okay?"

"Lily, you could never look just okay, you look amazing – go get him!" Isabel laughed and hugged her best friend tightly.

Lily smiled anxiously, and quickly left the room before she changed her mind about her outfit.

As Isabel put the clothes away (Lily and her regularly shared their clothes as they were of a similar size, except Lily was much curvier and a considerable amount shorter than Isabel) she grinned to herself. Lily would have such a good time with James, they were made for each other, she was doubtless.

Lily walked down the stairs nervously, leaving Isabel in their room. She was, quite frankly, sick with nerves. In a good way, of course. She never thought that James could make her feel that way in a million years, let alone five.

James had said that he would meet her in the common room – Lily looked around the door to the girls' dormitories and saw he was sitting in an armchair by the fire, laughing with Sirius and Remus – Peter was engaged in a particularly _enthralling _game of Exploding Snap with a fourth year (putting off doing his Care of Magical Creatures homework for Professor Kettleburn, partly because he hadn't the foggiest what it was on about). He looked so adorable, he was wearing dark grey jeans with a blue shirt and navy blue canvas baseball boots. James' jet black hair was as messy as ever and behind his glasses, his hazel eyes glinted merrily, reflecting the flickering fire.

Lily stepped out of the door, and, because James was sat with his back to her, he didn't notice her right away. Remus, however, did and poked James violently on the shoulder to alert his attentions to his very pretty girlfriend who had just entered the room.

"Ow, Moony, what the bloody Merlin was that for?" James asked indignantly, clutching his arm in pain – making Lily giggle at his melodramatics.

Remus gestured towards Lily and James spun round, and his mouth dropped when he saw her. Sirius stifled a maniacal grin and Remus suppressed laughter. James jumped up and walked towards her.

"Wow, Lily, you look absolutely amazing..." he complimented her, smiling sexily.

"Thanks James, you don't look so bad yourself," she replied happily – grateful that she actually managed to speak to him without sounding like a complete and utter lunatic. Her nerves had calmed down too, now she had actually met with him. Now she had the rest of the date to enjoy!

"Shall we go then, Lily?" James stuttered, not quite able to believe that he was going on a date with _Lily Evans_, the girl he had practically stalked for the past five years and dreamt about endlessly.

"Yes," she said simply, and he took her hand in his, leading her out of the common room where his friends couldn't laugh at him.

"So where are we going?" Lily asked inquisitively. James laughed heartily.

"Just wait and see, Lil, just wait and see," he smiled soothingly, shortening Lily's name. She found that she actually didn't mind this – and quite liked it. It was pretty much like how Sirius had started to shorten Isabel's name and, instead of correcting him irritably, she had let him continue, finding she liked it very much.

Lily observed that he led her past the corridor containing the one-eyed witch passageway which the Marauders used to go to Hogsmeade all the time (illegally; usually, in the case of James and Sirius, to procure some of Ogden's Old Firewhisky or sweets from Honeyduke's) and up the stairs – past all those students who were on their way to dinner, which was due to start in ten minutes, and who were also slightly preoccupied with staring at the two teenagers _holding hands_ and stealing occasional glances at each other like two people _in love_ when they had previously been a regular source of amusement when Lily had hit James or yelled at him whilst he attempted to declare his undying love for her.

"Honestly James, please tell me!" Lily whispered in his ear seductively. He turned to look at her, smiling in an amused way.

"Oh Lil, you won't get past me that way!" he murmured back in an equally seductive manner in her ear. She shivered. "We're nearly there, anyway."

He pulled her gently down the seventh floor corridor and stopped opposite a particularly enlightening tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy teaching trolls to do ballet, which Professor Binns had obviously skimmed over in their History of Magic lessons. James began to pace up and down the corridor in front of the blank wall in front of them.

Lily raised her eyebrows at him quizzically.

"Trust me, Lil, there is method to my madness!" James replied, grinning at her madly. She rolled her eyes – but was soon stopped in her tracks when before them appeared a large wooden door.

"What the–" she exclaimed, but James pulled her in quickly – and in the doorway, before she could even glance at the room they were entering, he kissed her. It was the sort of kiss that sent Lily weak at the knees and all too soon, it was over.

"Come in, Lil," he said welcomingly, leading her into the strange room – it was small, lit romantically by candles, with a table in the middle set for two with some red roses in the middle.

"What is this?" Lily asked in awe.

"The Room of Requirement. It'll turn into anything you want – and I wanted to take you on a romantic candlelit dinner for two, so that's what it did!" he answered.

He pulled Lily's chair out for her so that she could sit down, and then took his seat opposite her.

"Who said chivalry was dead?" Lily teased.

"I'm sorry – Sirius always complains that being too gentleman-like is a real turn-off..." he said uncertainly.

"No, it isn't – it's lovely," Lily assured him, squeezing his hand.

"You know Lil, I didn't think I'd ever get my date with you," he whispered.

"And that was where you were wrong – and I was very wrong to shout at you all those times and hit you round the back of the head," Lily replied earnestly, making James laugh again.

"I like it when you laugh," Lily told him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you sound really genuine and I like being able to entertain you," Lily responded.

"I know another way you could entertain me, Lil," he muttered.

"How?" she asked, totally naively and innocently.

"Like this," he said, and ventured into another knee-weakening kiss which Lily was glad didn't end as soon as the other one.

*

After dinner, Remus and Peter automatically went to the library – Remus had chastised him for procrastinating with his Care of Magical Creatures essay, and Peter had explained to him that he didn't really have a clue about it. So Remus, being the kind, thoughtful (albeit somewhat mischievous) boy he was, offered to help Peter in the library – so Peter couldn't really decline, as he did actually need the help desperately.

Sirius left them too it – Peter was so pathetic academically it was pitiful to watch, and he really admired Remus for having the patience to help him, as he certainly didn't. He wondered – as James and Lily had left for their date about an hour and a half ago – whether they had finished yet. So he ventured back up to the Gryffindor tower to see if James was back and Sirius could discuss James' date with him. He had had to listen to James ramble on about Lily for five years now, he wanted to hear him ramble on about Lily when he had actually _been_ out with her, not just serenading her in the corridor or convincing her, rather badly, to go out with him.

Sirius bounded up to his room – stopping quickly to eye up the brown-eyed, bleach-blonde-haired girl who he had had sitting on his lap the night previous, who flashed him a cheeky smile – and saw that James wasn't back yet.

He sank down onto his bed, but after five seconds decided that he was bored. James had to be there to cure his boredom! But no, he was off with Lily and Sirius was all alone.

Sirius suddenly had a brainwave. Perhaps Isabel could cure his boredom? She was probably up in her room, studying. He proceeded to run down the stairs as if he was sprinting the one hundred metres for Great Britain at the Olympics and then climbed up the side of the girls' stairs – if he walked on them normally, they would turn into a slide by the sixth step.

He quickly made it up to room shared by Isabel and Lily, and knocked. There was no reply, so he pushed the door open guardedly. There was no sign of Isabel, but her books were still open on her bed. The clothes had been tidied away and Sirius could hear water running, as if someone was having a shower. Then it dawned on him – Isabel was in the shower and was likely to come out any moment, thinking the room was empty! His eyes widened, and he left, shutting the door behind him quietly to avoid alerting Isabel to his presence. Sirius was in such a hurry to get down the stairs that he forgot to climb down the side, thus it turned into a slide which he shot out the end of into the common room, into the path of the fourth year bleach-blonde-haired girl who was grinning at him suggestively.

Who was he to resist?

"You, me, broom cupboard, _now_!" he ordered, and the girl (whose name he was unsure of, and he didn't want the whole 'Gloria' fiasco to occur again as that was damn painful) happily obliged with an annoyingly girlish giggle, following him out of the common room, leaving her bewildered friends behind.

_

* * *

_

Hehe, some cute Lily and James there :) I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading, please review for the next chapter, which involves Isabel actually starting to execute some of her plan... I hope wherever you are and whatever you doing, you have a brilliant weekend and a great holiday :)

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	7. Partners In Crime

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Sorry I didn't update yesterday, but hopefully over the next two weeks there will be an update virtually every day and multiple updates on some days :) ... I'm sorry if I miss anybody out in my thank yous but for some reason I'm not receiving notifications of reviews etc to my email account and I was wondering if anybody knew how to fix that as I am chronically awful with technology? Thank you to Stephie Cat-Kat, Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl, MaloryCullen14, EllieBaby, ., LaughingAngelsGibberish, Sam-EvansBlue, MoDuine, .limits111 and sarlovesoccer; thank you to EllieBaby and neko-koo for adding my story to their alert subscriptions and thank you to xc1016 for adding my story to their favourites! Thanks for reading, I hope you like this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

_**Partners in Crime**_

"It was absolutely _phenomenal_," Lily said dreamily as she took a seat next to Isabel in the library. Isabel rolled her blue eyes – only Lily could describe a date with her boyfriend as 'phenomenal'.

"Good, I'm glad you had a good time," Isabel replied absentmindedly – she was quickly trying to finish her Ancient Runes translations before she finished her Herbology essay, so then she could get out _Moste Potente Potions_, the only book she knew of containing the instructions for brewing Polyjuice Potion. She hadn't really had much trouble in getting a teacher's note – Professor Slughorn had given her one easily as she had told him it was for _background reading_. But, to be honest, most background reading didn't entail you making a potion and using it to stop your best friend from kissing random girls in broom cupboards.

But Isabel had conveniently forgotten to mention that to him as he signed the note, all the while praising her for her "superb concoction of the Draught of Living Death" and asking her if she would "like to come to one of his Slug Club meetings", which Lily attended too.

Unfortunately, Isabel couldn't get the book until Lily had gone – previously she had decided she wanted Lily in on her plan, but she knew that Lily would think it wrong. Surprisingly, this did not make Isabel think that it would be wrong also – and she was generally thought the more level-headed of the pair.

"It was more than good – it was amazing!" Lily gushed, completely disregarding the piece of parchment she had put in front of her with the title of her Transfiguration homework at the top (Transfiguration homework Isabel had completed before starting on her Rune translations).

"Good," Isabel added.

"He took me for a candlelight dinner in the," Lily leaned in towards Isabel at this point and lowered her voice considerably, "_Room of Requirement_!"

Though being very close to Sirius, Isabel knew nothing of the Room of Requirement. She supposed it was something he had forgotten to mention. Nevertheless, she was curious about this room which Lily had felt the need to lower her voice to mention it to her.

"What's the Room of Requirement?" she whispered back, completing the last but one translation and flicking through the pages of her Rune dictionary.

"It's a secret room on the seventh floor opposite that tapestry of that really gruesome goblin rebellion. It only appears when a person has real need of it," Lily filled her in, playing with the feathers on her quill.

"Sounds fascinating," Isabel replied.

"Oh, it is," Lily continued, "so anyway, James is totally remarkable and astounding, he's so gentlemanly!"

"So I've heard," Isabel muttered – she had been subjected to Lily's endless talk about how utterly fantastic James was all day and, though she loved her best friend very much and was very friendly with her boyfriend, she was sort of sick of it. She would have to speak to Sirius about it – no doubt he had been subjected to ceaseless talk from James about how wonderful Lily was (though he probably had suffered from that for the last five years – it was enough to make Isabel pity him!) – and would know a suitable method of dealing with it. Though, when Isabel thought more about it, Sirius wasn't the best person to go to for methods of dealing with things – his tended to be whack the annoying person with a heavy book over their head in order to knock some sense into them or hex them into oblivion.

"It's amazing, you know, you often don't find gentlemanly boys these days but James is just so cool!" Lily said, oblivious to Isabel's annoyance.

"Who said chivalry was dead..." Isabel interjected, finishing up her Rune translations and putting her Rune dictionary away, pulling her three-quarters-complete Herbology essay out of her book and dipping her peacock feather quill, a birthday gift from Sirius last year, in her bottle of ink.

"You know," Lily said, her almond-shaped emerald eyes widening in shock, "that is _precisely _what I said to James when he pulled my chair out for me! 'Who said chivalry is dead'!"

"Wow, we obviously have psychic powers," Isabel murmured. Right now it was almost as if Lily had eaten a whole bag of sugar she was that hyper and enthusiastic in her James praising. It was kind of sickening, but also very cute.

"You know, I don't feel like doing my Transfiguration essay tonight," Lily thought aloud, "I have prefect duty with Remus in fifteen minutes, anyway, so there's no point me starting it. I'll do it tomorrow," she concluded.

Isabel smiled as in fifteen minutes, she would be alone and thus able to get the book and copy down a list of instructions to make it. Nothing could be easier.

"Hey Lil!"

Isabel heard the familiar voice of James Potter from behind the bookshelf and turned round to see her best friend blushing insanely at the sight of her boyfriend of two days. Lily was absolutely smitten.

"Hi James," Lily greeted him excitedly. "Sit down with us! Izzy's just finishing up her Herbology essay, but I've decided to put my Transfiguration essay aside for a day," she informed him.

"Right," he grinned, and took the seat next to Lily, and began staring into her eyes. Isabel agreed it was romantic, but also felt like the third wheel when she'd been the first one at this table anyway!

Actually, though she was slightly sickened by the romance unfolding right before her very eyes in two very good friends of hers, she kind of wished she had something like that – a boyfriend who loved her just the way she was and enjoyed spending time with her and was as polite as James supposedly was and didn't care how she looked, and would still say to his friends, even when she was makeup-free and in her running gear looking all horrible, "That's her," really proudly.

She had to admit it – James and Lily were making her incredibly jealous. They shared something that Isabel had never had and wanted desperately, but with the right person. Unfortunately, she hadn't figured out who the right person was as of yet, but she hoped one day she would – hopefully in the near future.

Just as Isabel was writing the last paragraph on her Herbology essay, Remus came to find Lily for prefect duty.

"I have to go, James, but I'll see you later," she winked, and left him sat with Isabel at the table.

"Bye Lils," he called after her adoringly. And, as he had the incapability of being able to keep silent for more than twenty seconds, he immediately turned to Isabel, expecting her to keep him entertained until he left the library. "Hey Isabel, what are you doing?"

"Herbology," Isabel smiled, and began to proof-read her work, checking for any mistakes.

"Good, good," James said as if he didn't know really how to respond to that.

"Prongsy, old buddy, old pal!" Sirius came bounding through the bookcases, earning a murderous glare from Madame Pince, but in true Sirius style, ignored it. "And Izzy! How are you dear?"

"Fine thank you," she grinned, and crossed out a sentence she had written as it referred to the wrong plant.

"Iz, I'm sorry to have to do this, but I'm going to have to kidnap James as it is time for us to do some majorly overdue pranking as it is the third of September and we haven't even done any yet!" Sirius whined.

"Don't worry, I'll cope," Isabel smirked.

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked in a mock-concerned tone.

"Of course, now go away!" Isabel said, swatting at him and whacking the back of his head.

"Oh how you wound me, dear Izzy," he pouted, but trotted off with James in tow. Isabel shook her head.

She looked around, and when she was sure she would have no more distractions or interruptions, she put her completed and checked Herbology essay into her bag along with the translated Runes and her Rune dictionary and her quill and took out her note from Professor Slughorn, and approached Madame Pince, who was looking very scary.

"_Moste Potente Potions_, eh?" she said suspiciously, scrutinizing the note closely as if checking for a forgery. When she had concluded that it was a real signature, she went off to collect the book for Isabel – she returned with a very grotty, ancient looking book and dumped it in Isabel's arms. Isabel took it to one of the tables at the back of the library that were concealed behind much shelving so that she was unlikely to be disturbed, as she needed to make a list of the ingredients she needed.

Isabel flicked through the pages gingerly – she didn't want to damage the book and it looked very fragile due to its oldness, and if she did damage it, Madame Pince would make sure there was hell to pay.

Finally, after skimming through pages of horrible potions and even more horrible depictions of the potions described in action, she landed on the page titled, in gothic medieval lettering, _Polyjuice Potion_.

Checking there was nobody near, she pulled a piece of spare parchment out of her bag and her quill and ink bottle and began to neatly copy out the list of ingredients. They wouldn't be easy to find, either; some, like lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed and knotgrass, would be, as they resided in the student store cupboard, but others, like powdered horn of bicorn and boomslang skin, would probably only be found in Professor Slughorn's private cupboard. She doubted highly that Slughorn would believe her if she said she was brewing up Polyjuice Potion for 'background potioneering'.

Anyway, pushing all thoughts of how she was going to get the ingredients to the back of her mind – though she had already decided to go and get them now, whilst she wasn't with anybody – she finished up the list and slipped the moulding book into a separate compartment of her bag, and left the library.

Isabel's first stop was the student store cupboard – there were big jars full of the things she needed, minus the bicorn and boomslang, so it was easy for her to get those ingredients down for herself. She was just trying to locate the jar of lacewing flies when she heard footsteps behind her. Instinctively, she turned round, and saw that it was Jonas who was waiting to come into the store cupboard behind her.

"Oh, hi, Jonas," Isabel smiled friendlily.

"Hey Isabel... what you getting those ingredients for?" he asked inquisitively.

"Oh, just running low on a few things..." she quickly lied, scanning her eyes across the hundreds of labels in an effort to locate lacewing flies. "What about you?"

"Same," he agreed, leaning against the doorframe in a casual effort to look irresistible.

Isabel sighed, she couldn't find the jar containing the flies anywhere.

"Are you alright?" Jonas asked concernedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just I can't seem to find the lacewing flies!" Isabel answered.

"Let me help," he offered, and stepped into the cupboard and scanned the labels with her. Neither of them were aware of the closeness of their proximity until they bumped into each other – Isabel blushed and Jonas muttered an apology.

"I think they're up there... Yes, they are," Jonas said, pointing at a shelf well out of Isabel's reach, and probably just within his.

"Could you get them down for me please, if you don't mind, I can't reach," Isabel requested timidly and he happily obliged, getting the jar down for her swiftly. She took the amount of flies she needed out of the jar and thanked Jonas for his help.

Now it was time to go to Slughorn's private potion ingredients store and find some powdered horn of bicorn and boomslang skin, which wasn't going to be easy.

"I'd better go, I've got some more stuff to do," Isabel told him vaguely. Jonas rapidly made the decision to offer his company yet again – but in a casual, sophisticated way that didn't in any way suggest that he liked her a lot.

"Oh, do you want some help? I can get the things from high up down for you," he suggested indifferently.

Isabel thought about it slightly – Jonas didn't necessarily have to _know_ what she was stealing the ingredients for... and though she was tall, she wasn't _that _tall...

"Please, if you could," she agreed, and he smiled at her charmingly.

_

* * *

_

Thanks for reading, hope you liked the little bit of Isabel/Jonas, even though Sirius is blatantly better :) Please review for the next chapter, which involves lots and lots of SIRIUS!!! Thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas how I can fix my email issues then please suggest them - thank you :) have a brill weekend and holiday,

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	8. Dangerous Contemplation

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Hi! Thanks to fanny-kun, Rhiannon da crazy girl and wiatch for reviewing; thank you to Boo Bops, fanny-kun, LilaW08, Osireia, Rhiannon da crazy girl and wiatch for me adding to their alert subscriptions and thank you to Bathsheaba, Kanika Meskhenet and Rhiannon da crazy girl for adding me to their favourites! I hope you like this chapter... it involves much Sirius...

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

_**Dangerous Contemplation**_

Sirius was bored, yet again. James was off with Lily, yet again. Remus was in the Hospital Wing (the full moon was two days from then) and Peter was off in the library trying, and no doubt failing, to understand basic principles of Transfiguration. Sirius hadn't the patience to help him so had made up some excuse of wanting to catch up on his sleep, which was a load of rubbish.

He didn't want to interrupt Isabel as she might be having a shower again – something he really didn't want to walk in on because it was _Isabel _and she was his closest friend and it was just, well, _plain wrong_! He actually respected her and, in turn, her privacy.

The bleach-blonde-haired girl with the brown eyes had been his kissing partner three nights in a row but to be frank, he was bored with her. There was only so many times you could look at her hair without wanting to dye it a natural colour – Sirius wasn't a world authority on hair, though he did take good care of his own, but he knew that she needed some natural looking highlights to carry off the colour.

He shook his head – he couldn't believe he was thinking about the damn girl's hair! She was quite annoying, anyway. She had a really weird girlish giggle that got on your nerves after about twenty nanoseconds that sounded really fake and forced, quite unlike when Isabel or Lily laughed at they practically roared and cackled. It was funny.

"I AM BORED!" he yelled extremely loudly, even though there was nobody there to listen to him.

He groaned.

"I AM EXTREMELY BORED!" he shouted. Still nobody responded, though he wasn't exactly expecting a response.

"OH WHY DON'T I JUST GO AND THROW MYSELF OFF THE ASTRONOMY TOWER!" he bellowed irritably. Suddenly, his door banged open. It was a seventh year boy named Max Knightley with whom he got on with reasonably well.

"Maybe that's not such a good idea, Sirius, now do you mind keeping quiet?" Max smiled sweetly.

"Oh, er, sorry, I'm a bit bored," he apologised.

"So I heard," Max said, "but why don't you go and find one of your friends to do some pranks or something?"

"That _would_ be a good idea, except they are all off in other places WITHOUT ME and I am ALONE and UNLOVED!" Sirius moaned.

"Go and do a prank by yourself then. But keep the noise down!" Max warned, and shut the door behind him.

"Well _thank you _for being _ever so_ helpful," Sirius said sarcastically, and jumped up off his bed.

But it had given him a brainwave – it was like a light bulb had switched on in his head. And that light bulb was such a good idea it was exploding with heat!

As soon as he had jumped off his bed, he jumped down onto the floor and stuck his head under his bed.

"Bloody hell, where did I put them?" he hissed to himself, pulling out the stacks of clothes, magazines (he had a subscription to _Which Broomstick?_), a large bottle of hairspray which Isabel had bought him as a joke present for Christmas last year, an old empty box of Chocolate Cauldrons which he had intended to give Isabel but had ended up eating himself as he was hungry and bored, his beater's bat, his old teddy he'd had when he'd joined Hogwarts and couldn't bear to part with (a gift from Andromeda, his favourite cousin)... but not what he was looking for.

"Maybe they're under Prongs' bed..." he suggested to himself – then realised that he was talking to himself, _yet again_, so slapped himself round the face, much like the way Petra had slapped him a few days before. "Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, Padfoot!"

So he shoved all the stuff back under his bed and turned to look under James' bed, which was next to his. The underneath of James' bed seemed to be partly a shrine to his love for Lily (there were lots of photos of Lily, mainly with Isabel and the Marauders – Isabel used to like taking photos and James had begged her to give him some photos of Lily) and also a dumping ground for smelly socks, old copies of the _Daily Prophet_, empty Honeydukes sweet boxes – and joke items from Zonko's, the Marauders' favourite shop in Hogsmeade, and more joke items from Gambol and Japes' Wizarding Joke Shop in Diagon Alley, a shop which James and Sirius had been to stock up on their mischief-causing gear before coming back to school.

This was what Sirius was looking for – the box of Dungbombs that actually belonged to Sirius but had somehow found its way to the underneath of James' bed.

"JACKPOT!" he yelled, then, remembering Max's warning, quickly left the room, with the Marauder's map and James' invisibility cloak in tow.

Only a few people were in the common room – no girls above fourth year, thus no distraction was created for Sirius – so Sirius just walked straight through and out the portrait hole with a demented smile on his face, one he always got when he was about to do something mischievous and about to earn a detention from his favourite professor, Minerva McGonagall.

Sirius spotted some people, a gaggle of giggling second-year girls, coming towards him, so slipped behind the nearest tapestry and sat down in the hidden alcove behind it.

"_Lumos_," he whispered, and the tip of his wand lit up brightly and gave him some light to see the Marauder's Map by. He observed that now the second-years had gone, the corridor was empty and nobody was heading this way. It was perfect – Sirius' stormy grey eyes glinted impishly and he leaped out into the corridor and set off the massive box of Dungbombs that had been secreted under James' bed. The smell was terrible, and he could hear people heading this way now. But, he couldn't just leave it there.

No, seeing as he had done this prank _all_ on his own, he had to let people know that it was him who had done it. So he did the most sensible (or, alternatively, insensible) thing he could think of – he did a little victory dance in front of the gathering students who were holding their noses because of the dreadful smell.

He was quite enjoying himself, doing his crazy little dance and bowing to people (making more than one girl swoon), and was in his element, until his supposed favourite teacher appeared.

"Mr Black! _DETENTION_!" Professor McGonagall roared, and the students who had clustered around Sirius rapidly dispersed.

Sirius grinned at her sheepishly, and said in his usual arrogant tone, "See you tonight, Professor!"

"EIGHT O'CLOCK, MY CLASSROOM!" she called after his retreating back – who was off to get some food from the kitchens before his detention.

*

James and Lily were walking, hand in hand, down the Transfiguration corridor. They had just been sat outside with each other in the courtyard but had decided that they should come inside as what had been the summer air was now getting rapidly colder and it was quite chilly. No teachers were about so they could "fraternise" (in the words of McGonagall, who was often telling students off for doing this) all they liked without having to worry about being caught.

"So, Lily... would you like to..." James drifted off, but Lily kissed him too quickly for him to finish his sentence.

A couple of minutes later they pulled apart and Lily smiled at him widely, her green eyes sparkling in the flickering candlelight which was lighting the dark corridor.

"Yes, James?" she asked excitedly. Before, she hated it every time James came near to ask her a question – it usually consisted of "Will you go out with me?" – but now it unleashed unlimited excitement within her like wildfire, so strong it kept going and going.

She couldn't believe that she felt this strongly after four days of being his girlfriend. All summer, she had, albeit subconsciously, missed him – and though she didn't reply to the long and adoring letters he had sent her over the summer with his large tawny owl, Marmaduke (Lily _still_ couldn't work out why he had named his owl _Marmaduke_!), they were awaited eagerly and she read them enthusiastically. She hadn't realised the extent of her feelings for James until she had sat in the compartment with him on the Hogwarts Express. She had an inkling that she liked him more than she ever thought she could, but tried to suppress it by being her usual, cold self towards him at the station – though admittedly warming slightly when he politely offered to carry her trunk.

"Will you go with me to Hogsmeade?" he gabbled. He couldn't quite believe that he had spent the past four days kissing Lily Evans with very few breaks.

"Yes, of course," Lily beamed at him, and they kissed again, oblivious to the clock in the tower overlooking the courtyard chiming eight o'clock.

*

Sirius Black hurriedly ate the last raspberry fairy cake that the happily obliging house elves had put in front of him, aware that he had approximately one minute and thirty seconds to get to his detention with McGonagall. He hadn't gotten one so shortly into the school year since third-year when he had given acne-causing sweets to all of the years below him that stalked him obsessively and had nearly caused one to fall out of a window when she hid her spots from him when she passed. It had been quite funny – though he obviously, being the gallant boy he was, checked the girl hadn't fallen out of the window before collapsing onto the ground in laughter.

"Will Mister Black be requiring any more food to take with him?" a little elf asked respectfully.

"No thanks, I've got a detention," he began, then paused to think about it slightly. "Actually... can you give me some garlic bread? I might get slightly peckish writing lines or whatever..."

Six little house elves suddenly appeared with silver trays containing about twenty garlic breads – Sirius took four and stuffed them into the pockets of his robes.

"Thank you, see you soon!" he said, waving at the little elves as he left.

"Goodbye Mister Black, always a pleasure to see you!" they called after him.

He scurried down the passageway, hungrily attacking one of the four garlic breads they had given him, and bounded up the stairs, pelting towards the Transfiguration corridor at such speed anybody in his way would have been mowed down.

Just as he entered the end of the corridor, he heard the clock in the clock tower striking eight o'clock – so, really, he wasn't late. He calmed down his pace and began to saunter along the deserted corridor – or so it seemed.

Sirius rounded the corner, and, on one of the benches near to McGonagall's classroom, sat Lily and James, kissing fiercely and passionately.

"'Ello, 'ello, 'ello, 'ello! What's this then? Two young scallywags _canoodling _like two young canoodling scallywags! What is the world coming to?" Sirius said loudly in a fake cockney accent, making James and Lily jump and spring apart.

"Merlin, Pads, you nearly gave me heart palpitations!" James growled, clutching his chest with the air of someone who had just seen a ghost. Lily, meanwhile, was blushing a bright, ripe, tomato red that made her face match her dark red hair beautifully.

"Sorry, just on my way to detention with Minerva and wanted to ensure that all students – particularly _prefects_" – he looked meaningfully in Lily's direction, who was reddening even further, if that was humanly possible – "were abiding by the school rules. Rules, no matter what the saying says, are NOT made to be broken – though I quote that phrase on a daily basis, so I'm not really one to talk..." he frowned, thinking to himself. Lily rolled her eyes.

"What are you in detention for, Pads?" James asked nosily.

"He is in detention, Mr Potter, for setting off a whole box of Dungbombs in the fifth floor corridor half an hour ago," Professor McGonagall said, staring furiously at the teenagers as she came out of her classroom door, "so kindly go to your common room or the library and leave Mr Black to serve my detention."

James saluted McGonagall and Lily whacked him round the back of his head, causing McGonagall to smile just slightly – though it was so momentary that nobody would have noticed – and dragged him off in the direction of the library, something Minerva McGonagall was sure Potter would begin to protest about as soon as he rounded the corner.

"Please be on time for your detentions, Mr Black," McGonagall warned, holding the door open for Sirius to enter. At the front of the classroom on the desk right in front of Professor McGonagall's was a sheet of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink. Sirius reluctantly took his seat there – this was a seat he usually avoided at all costs. He strategically sat at the back beside either James, Remus, Peter (though not very often as Peter's endless questioning about what on earth they were doing annoyed him terribly), or Isabel. James had taken to sitting by Lily in Transfiguration on the back desk, so Sirius sat in front beside Isabel, with Remus beside Peter in front of them. It was strategic because it meant, besides learning whatever it was that they were doing, he could pass notes and whisper to his fellow Marauders or Isabel or Lily without being spotted easily.

Sirius looked up at the board – 'I must not set off Dungbombs in corridors because it is disruptive' was written on it in McGonagall's neat script.

"A hundred lines, please, Mr Black," Professor McGonagall said sharply, taking her seat at her desk and going back to marking homework essays she had set for a third-year class.

Sirius began – his writing was extremely neat, owing to his pureblood-maniac parents wanting him to have distinguished, high-class, posh writing though Sirius could never understand why. At least his was legible, unlike James', whose writing was indecipherable even at the best of times.

While Sirius wrote the lines, he thought about James and Lily. He hadn't seen his best friend as happy as he was now for a long time – and James was generally a happy person anyway (his endless cheerfulness was often quite infuriating at six o'clock on a Saturday morning when he woke Sirius up for Quidditch practice). Then his mind flickered to all the little flings he had had. He must have kissed half the girls in Hogwarts – and some that had left. He was a catch with the women, there was no doubting that, but he wondered if he would be happier if he had a steady girlfriend who wasn't just a random broom cupboard meeting, but there for weeks, months, years possibly. He thought about his first girlfriend – a girl named Mary MacDonald in Hufflepuff who was in the year above them – who he had 'gone out with' for about four days. That was probably his record. Actually, thinking about Mary, made him think about when he was with her...

_Two months into his first year at Hogwarts, and Sirius was living the high life. Yes, he had already received the Howler from his parents yelling about their disappointment of him being Sorted into Gryffindor and not Slytherin like the family tradition and associating with muggle-borns (though they used the less polite terminology) and half-bloods. He didn't care. He had already made a great bunch of friends, and at breakfast one day in November, he thought he was making another. _

_A girl over on the Hufflepuff table kept smiling at him charmingly, showing bright white straight teeth and kept flicking her long blonde hair whenever he cast his stormy grey eyes in her direction._

"_Who's that?" he asked Remus, who was sat next to him, reading a book that was propped up against the milk jug whilst he ate some toast._

_Remus looked up to see whom Sirius was referring to. "I think she's in second year, I'm not quite sure what she's called," he answered. Sirius looked back at her closely. She was surrounded by a group of giggling friends who kept shooting pointed looks at Sirius and then at their very pretty blonde friend._

"_Perhaps I should introduce myself," Sirius suggested to his fellow Marauders._

_Remus raised his eyebrows in alarm, and James grinned widely. _

"_What are you thinking?" Remus asked – he questioned Sirius' sanity practically every day, it was something he was used to now._

"_Good idea, mate, she's a corker," James said wickedly as he tucked into some bacon._

"_Okay... one vote for, one vote against; Pete, you need to side so I know what to do!" Sirius concluded, looking at his little mousy friend – though he wasn't necessarily sure Peter's judgement was something you could trust as he wasn't bright at all._

"_Er... maybe you should go... though maybe you shouldn't... but otherwise you won't find out her name... but then it wouldn't matter if you didn't..." Peter rambled on. Sirius rolled his eyes dramatically, attracting more looks from the blonde girl he was so intrigued about._

"_Pete, make a choice. It's not a life or death decision. I'm not asking you who you think should be the Minister for Magic or the lead singer of the Weird Sisters, I'm asking you whether I should go and introduce myself to that girl," he said, slightly exasperatedly._

"_Erm, okay," Peter replied timidly, and straight away went back to his eggs. _

"_Alright then, see you in a minute," Sirius grinned at his friends – James patted him on the back, Peter didn't even watch him go and Remus did some excessive eye-rolling which Sirius didn't think was necessary._

_He caught Isabel's eye as he walked past her and Lily (the object of James' affections – pity she hated him and thought he was an arrogant toerag) and smiled at her as she raised her eyebrows questioningly. She shook her head despairingly as she saw Sirius approach the blonde girl._

"_Hey, I'm Sirius Black," Sirius said, sliding in beside the girl who started blushing like crazy. "You kept looking at me, so I thought I'd come and speak to you. You know, so we could get to know one another."_

_The girl's friends giggled madly, but Sirius ignored them. _

"_I'm Mary," the girl replied, "Mary MacDonald."_

"_Hi Mary, want to hang out some time?" he asked, smiling enchantingly at her. Mary could hardly say no – he was twelve, the same age as her, despite the difference in school year (her birthday was August whereas his was October) and he was extremely good-looking. _

"_Yes, I'd like that," Mary grinned, and Sirius helped himself to a bit of toast while he began to chat to her._

Sirius smiled to himself as he wrote his forty-sixth line of 'I must not set off Dungbombs in corridors because it is disruptive', remembering the first time he had ever chatted up a girl. Mary MacDonald was still extremely pretty, very blonde and also very attached to Amos Diggory – who would be the school heart throb if it wasn't for Sirius and James (and sort of Remus – some of the girls found his intelligence inherently attractive). He still had a bit of a soft spot for Mary, as she was his first kiss (the first of many...) and he remembered that it wasn't actually in a broom cupboard (like now) and it had been sort of romantic. Though they had split up a couple of days later, he still remembered it, though not harbouring any feelings for Mary MacDonald at all – they had all cancelled out by December of that year and she was a good friend.

_Sirius was going to meet Mary in the courtyard outside the Transfiguration corridor – it was sort of secluded and quiet, plus at the time they were going to meet, just before dinner, the sun would be setting and it would look beautiful. _

_He walked along carelessly from the Gryffindor Common Room, leaving behind Remus to take over his role playing Wizard's Chess against James, who was unbelievably good, but as soon as he reached the courtyard, and saw Mary sitting there waiting for him on one of the benches, he patted down his curly, shoulder-length hair and licked his lips and emerged. _

_Mary turned round and smiled at him. _

"_Hey Sirius, how was your day?" she whispered – they didn't want to be heard by any passing teachers, students, or the crazy caretaker Argus Filch who was seriously demented and already hated James, Sirius, Remus and Peter two seconds after stepping into Hogwarts as they had accidentally dirtied the floor he had just cleaned because of the rain._

"_Fine, thank you, Mary, how about you?" he asked politely._

"_Good," she said simply._

_Sirius frowned slightly – he hadn't come out here to ask questions Isabel or James would ask him on a daily basis – he hadn't picked the romantic setting for nothing._

_So, instinctively, he pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her._

Sirius once again grinned to himself (attracting concerned looks from McGonagall, who was wondering if Sirius Black had gone insane) as he finished his ninety-sixth line. It was quarter to nine, and he only had four more to go. He decided that he wanted to find himself a proper girlfriend, so he could have a relationship like Lily and James'. He made it his goal as he handed in his completed lines to McGonagall and left.

_

* * *

_

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! Please review for the next chapter, which involves the Marauders holding girlfriend auditions in the Room of Requirement! Have a great holiday, I'd love to get to 70 reviews... hint, hint... :)

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	9. All In The Name Of Romance

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Thank you to Fatal Revolution, EllieBaby (thanks for the multiple reviews!), sarlovesoccer, Sam-EvansBlue, vanillabean18, LaughingAngelsGibberish and Stephie Cat-Kat for reviewing and thank you to Tout-De-La-Monde for adding me to your alert subscriptions! Also I have a new story up which is themed on the Little Mermaid called **Part Of Your World** which is centred on all of the characters going to school together and Ariel and Eric getting together :) please check it out and review! Thank you, on with the chapter...

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

_**All in the Name of Romance**_

When Isabel and Lily came into the Gryffindor common room the following weekend – Lily had pulled herself away from her beloved James (literally) to go and finish her homework for Transfiguration in the library with Isabel; needless to say, James hadn't wanted to go and do the homework, excusing himself with, "We have some Marauder stuff to do" – there was a large, raspberry pink notice pinned to the Gryffindor notice board, covering the dates for Hogsmeade weekends and Quidditch practices, coordinated by James as Quidditch captain.

It would have been hard to _miss_ the sign as the colour of it was so lurid and it took up most of the board. Lily, in her inquisitive and law-abiding capacity as Gryffindor prefect, marched over to the board to see what it was about. Isabel quickly followed after dropping her heavy bag (filled with multiple heavy books, including her massive Rune dictionary and Transfiguration textbooks) by her favourite armchair.

"I do not _believe _this," Lily groaned – though it sounded more like a cross between contempt and amusement. Isabel scanned her eyes across it, and a giggle escaped her mouth before she could even control it. Lily turned quickly to look at her, glaring. "Isabel – they should not put things like this up on the notice board!"

Isabel, sensing that there actually was no amusement in Lily's expression, thought it would be better to agree than start an argument, so nodded meekly.

Lily ripped the notice off the board – and stuffed it into a waste parchment basket at the bottom of the notice board. As soon as she stepped towards the fire, two excitable fourth years rushed forward and snatched it out of the bin, and eyed it like their birthdays and Christmas had come all at once.

"Oh my MERLIN!" one of them said, holding the pink notice so tightly her fingertips were deathly white.

"Calm down, Aimee," the other one warned, but looked equally excited.

"Maybe you should put the notice back," Isabel warned Aimee and her friend.

"Sorry, we've got to go to this," the two girls chorused impossibly accurately and shoved the notice in Isabel's direction, who smiled once more as she read it:

_CALLING ALL LADIES!!!_

_(apart from those of Slytherin as they are scum)_

_Do you DREAM of being the girlfriend of a heart throb?_

_Do you FANTASIZE about being the girlfriend of a Hogwarts heart throb?_

_What about the best of the Hogwarts heart throbs, SIRIUS BLACK?_

_Sirius Black is on the lookout for a STEADY GIRLFRIEND instead of one of his nightly broom cupboard meetings. _

_COULD YOU BE THIS GIRL?_

_Sirius' criteria:_

_The girl must be FUNNY, INTELLIGENT, PRETTY and easy to CONVERSE with – she must be in FOURTH YEAR OR ABOVE and not mind being a girlfriend of an EXCESSIVE PRANKSTER._

_Come along to auditions held by the Marauders for the post of Sirius Black's girlfriend on Saturday evening at half past seven; meet on the seventh floor corridor opposite the tapestry of the goblin rebellions._

_REMEMBER:_

_IF YOU DON'T TRY, YOU DON'T GET!!!_

*

"I'm beginning to wonder whether this was a _really_ bad idea," Peter whispered nervously to his friends. A gaggle of about thirty girls had entered the Room of Requirement, and assembled in a line before James, Remus and Peter, who were sat on chairs much like those on a movie set behind a desk, with blank parchment and quills in front of them.

"Shut up, Wormtail, Sirius'll thank us when we've found him the perfect girlfriend," James hissed, whilst Remus simply smiled at the excited applicants.

"Well, shouldn't we have actually _told_ Sirius we were holding girlfriend auditions for him?" Peter asked.

"No. Be quiet," James muttered and looked up at the group of girls.

"Right, hello – it seems I will be doing the introductions as Prongs and Wormtail are arguing," Remus said loudly, attracting the attention of the females in front of him and causing Peter to redden rapidly but James to merely grin sheepishly.

"Done arguing! Right, now, could you separate into your houses so that I can take note of the Gryffindors, Remus can write down the names of the Ravenclaws and Peter the Hufflepuffs. If you are a Slytherin, just go. Go before we hex you into oblivion. Obviously, as you are a girl, we will tone down our hexes. But only a little – you might want to be wary of incurable acne," James threatened. The girls uttered light laughter (Remus recorded this on a piece of parchment – none of them seemed to find James' comment, something Sirius would find immensely funny, very funny and their laughter was too polite and controlled) and assembled into lines according to their houses.

James smiled at the Gryffindors in front of them as he wrote down their names. All of the seventh-year girls were there, none of the sixth-year girls (though James didn't want Lily turning up as obviously she was his girlfriend and he might possibly murder Sirius if he had ever tried it on with his Lils; and he didn't expect Isabel to turn up as it seemed, from what Lily told him between kisses, that she had a blossoming relationship with the Hufflepuff Chaser Jonas Carmichael), three fifth-year girls and two fourth-years.

"So will we, like, get to meet _Sirius_?" one of the fourth-years babbled excitedly. James noticed the fourth-year girl with the bleach-blonde hair was not present, batting her eyelashes seductively like she had been doing the previous week.

"What's your name again?" James asked, finding her enthusiasm very funny.

"Aimee Cockles," she provided cheerfully. James wrote her name down on the list. "So, will I get to meet him, and, like, speak to him?"

"Perhaps," James answered mysteriously. Aimee's eyes widened elatedly and she skipped aside, leaving her friend to put her name down on James' list.

"How many Gryffindors?" Remus asked quietly, looking down his list of twelve Ravenclaws.

"Ten – Wormtail, number of Hufflepuffs?" James asked impatiently.

"Er..." Peter drifted off as he concentrated on counting the number of names on his list. "Eight, I think."

"Good, good. Now, we need to test each of the criteria we put in the notice," James said studiously. First of all, was funny. He thought himself an expert in that department so felt he was fully qualified to test this one.

"RIGHT!" James yelled, causing all the girls to shut up hurriedly. "Now, the first thing on Sirius' criteria was that the girl had to be funny. So... I am going to tell some of my best jokes, and see if you find them funny. And don't just laugh at every single one because they won't all be funny," he warned.

"Damn," Aimee Cockles cursed, her plan unfoiled.

"Okay... What did the fish blush?" James asked. "Because the seaweed!"

Three girls laughed genuinely. Aimee Cockles, somebody James had marked as desperate and not good girlfriend material, looked at him blankly, and whispered loudly to her friend Lorraine, "Fish don't blush, do they, Lorraine? I didn't think they did... fish don't blush, do they? Of course fish don't blush, that was so not funny!"

Lorraine was one of the girls who laughed, and was sent over to one side of the room with the other two, whilst Aimee was sent to the opposite side, whilst twenty-seven girls remained nervously.

"Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side!"

Fifteen girls cackled in such a fake manner James automatically sent them to stand with Aimee Cockles.

After a little more, twelve girls were standing on the side of the room opposite Aimee Cockles' group.

"Unfortunately, you haven't made it through, sorry, please leave," James said in what was meant as a sympathetic tone but came across as more mocking to Aimee Cockles and her fellow girls on that side of the room. Aimee burst into tears but was bustled out by the group of girls who left good-naturedly.

"Well, you're all pretty so you pass my test," Peter complimented and sat back in his seat, seeing if he could blow his quill across the desk.

"Oh, that was full of effort, wasn't it, Wormtail?" James said acerbically. Peter didn't grasp the sarcasm.

"Right, the intelligence test," Remus said, ignoring his two friends.

Remus' intelligence test comprised of a piece of parchment containing ten questions, which he handed to each contestant to complete. James rolled his hazel eyes at his friend's efficiency, and Peter continued to fiddle with his quill.

"Finished!" a bubbly girl with pale brown hair and startlingly violet eyes declared, and the other eleven nodded too. Remus collected in the parchments and James proceeded to amuse them whilst he marked them like a teacher.

"Alright – seven of you managed to score eight out of ten or above, so could you lot please leave," he concluded, pointing at five girls who frowned disappointedly and left the room.

The remaining seven gasped excitedly and giggled.

"Ah, Prongsy, Moony, Wormy! I've been looking for you everywhere!" the familiar voice of Sirius Black came from the door. He stepped in, and his full six foot three frame with the elegant yet lazy good looks and stormy grey eyes was fully appreciated by the remaining seven – two fainted in their elation, and two others had to sit down on chairs.

Sirius' eyes caught the girls stood before him – or rather, one standing, two having fainted and two having come over all faint. "What the bloody hell is going on here?"

"Well, my dear Pads, we decided to do you a brilliant favour!" James told him cheerfully. Sirius raised his eyebrows questioningly – not aware of any sort of favour his friends could do for him, except perhaps hex the Slytherins into oblivion.

"And what exactly was that?" he asked, as he was eyed up by a violet-eyed girl and two blondes beside her.

"You told us you wanted a steady girlfriend!" James reminded him.

"Yeah?" Sirius prompted continuation of James' explanation as this did not seem to offer any clues.

"So we decided to hold girlfriend auditions for you," he finished.

"You did WHAT?" Sirius screeched incredulously. Sirius turned to Remus. "I thought you were the sensible, responsible, trustworthy one who would have the good sense not to do this and let me choose a girlfriend by myself?"

"Er..." Remus said, for once not having an annoyingly intellectual and somewhat mystifying response.

Sirius turned to the three girls who were left standing there tentatively.

"I don't mean this rudely..." Sirius began. "But I need to find a girlfriend for myself. It's nice that you like me and everything – but I have finally decided that I don't want to just have a girl for a day or so, purely for kissing. I see my best pal – though I don't think he _should_ be my best pal after what he just did but being the big person I am, I'll forgive him and my fellow Marauders who were no doubt being led under the destructive influence of Prongs" – ("HEY!") – "so decided to do this – in this happy relationship with a girl he has been lusting after for five years and finally got a date with after her best friend, a close friend of mine, shouted that she loved him to the whole Gryffindor tower. So he's spent the past week with her – happier than normal. And Prongs is a happy boy, right? So I decided I wanted something like that. But I need to find the right girl on my own. And she might not be in Hogwarts, but eventually I'll find her. Thank you for coming today, and you're all beautiful, but I need to do this by myself."

The girls (the fainted ones had been revived) smiled at him weakly and left.

Sirius left the Room of Requirement with a heavy heart. It was nice of his friends to take it upon them to help (though in a thoroughly strange way – he had never heard of anybody else calling girlfriend auditions) but like he said, only he knew who would be perfect for him and he had to find her by himself.

Plus, he didn't want some girl who dropped the L-word bomb after about five minutes, like Petra Clarkson from Ravenclaw, who, though admittedly an extremely accomplished kisser and aided with a seductive figure, was too enthusiastic and expected too much of him.

All the seriousness and severity rushing through his head was worrying him slightly – since when had Sirius Black lived up to his namesake and ever been, well, serious?

He shook his head dismissively and walked down the corridor in silence.

_

* * *

_

_If you've ever seen_ A Cinderella Story _with Chad Michael Murray and Hilary Duff, I kind of took a little bit of inspiration from when Austin's friends are trying to find him his princess outside with the microphone and the music :) please review for the next chapter which involves Sirius first meeting Amanda and James writing Lily a poem... thanks for reading, have a great holiday,_

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	10. Apple Of His Eye

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Thanks for all your support :) Thank you to sarlovesoccer, Rhiannon da crazygirl, MoDuine, Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl, LittleRed22, 552678, EllieBaby and Stephie Cat-Kat - thanks to everyone who reviewed multiple times! Thank you to hollygolightly88 for adding my story to your alert subscriptions and thank you to 552678 for adding my story to your favourites! I hope you like this chapter...

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

_**Apple of His Eye**_

Three weeks later, Isabel was sat in her room staring at the bubbling cauldron gleefully. It was a thick, muddy, sludgy colour and was simmering on the little fire she had lit beneath it. Paying attention to the final instruction in the book, she stirred it a few times and then smiled – it was ready.

She was prepared to take on the role of the blonde, busty Amanda Catherine Burke right away; she had sneakily taken a Hufflepuff uniform from the laundry that was of a larger size than hers and had a little goblet to put the potion in to drink. The only problem was, she couldn't drink it in her dorm because a Hufflepuff couldn't be coming out of a Gryffindor dormitory! So she made the quick decision to take her goblet, full of potion complete with the hair, to the girls' bathroom on the fourth floor and drink it there, so she could transform somewhere that wouldn't ruin her plan.

Isabel stood up and went over to her drawer, where the hairs were. She took them and dropped them into the cauldron – within seconds it turned a pearlescent shade of violet, which was quite a pretty colour, but not one you would particularly like to drink.

Isabel poured some into a goblet, and hid the cauldron at the bottom of her wardrobe for safe keeping – hopeful that Lily wouldn't look there very soon, as Lily would become instantly suspicious and question Isabel to no end about why on earth there was a cauldron full of violet Polyjuice Potion in the bottom of the wardrobe. Even if she was sky high with her James infatuation.

So, eager to get the plan going straight away, she hid the goblet underneath her robes and left her room, walking swiftly through the Gryffindor common room (luckily none of the Marauders nor Lily were in there) and out into the corridors. She walked along a few and down some stairs to get to her destination: said girls' bathroom on the fourth floor.

Isabel entered it cautiously – hoping nobody was in there. Unfortunately, there was. The two girls who had snatched the 'Sirius' Girlfriend Auditions' poster out of her hands in the Gryffindor common room were there, liberally applying brightly coloured lip gloss and mindlessly gossiping.

"So, Aimee, are you totally going for Sirius?" one of them said to the other.

"Nah, Lorraine, he is, like, way too old for me!" Aimee gasped in annoyance at her friend's lack of knowledge.

"Oh right... so who is all this lip gloss for then?" Lorraine asked, bemused.

"Darren Parkes," Aimee grinned hungrily and, grabbing Lorraine's wrist somewhat forcefully, pulled her out of the bathroom, barely acknowledging Isabel's presence – not that she minded, so far Aimee had been a complete pain who was obsessed with her best friend.

"Finally..." Isabel whispered to herself, and, once assured the bathroom was empty, slipped into a cubicle and changed into the Hufflepuff uniform. Then, it was time to take the potion – she stepped out and stood in front of one of the mirrors, and gulped it down. Surprisingly, it tasted alright – a bit sweet for Isabel's liking, but okay all the same.

And now came the transformation – Isabel felt herself physically shrink about two inches, her chest enlarge considerably, her hair magically straighten and turn blonde, her skin to tan slightly and her eyes to lighten and flecks of grey to appear. She closed her eyes – the sensation of metamorphosing into another being was not altogether pleasant.

About ten seconds later, she blinked, and opened her eyes to take in her appearance as Amanda.

Her first thoughts were: "Oh my Merlin! What have I done?" but they were quickly followed up by: "Wow, I look pretty good!"

She smiled to herself, revealing straight, pearly white teeth. Enchanting – surely this was _exactly_ what Sirius would enjoy looking at.

*

Sirius Black felt as if he was being starved. It was a peculiar feeling, and had nothing to do with his appetite. He had proved that by just nipping to the kitchen (for a post-dinner snack) and consuming four pieces of buttered and raspberry-jammed toast and a steaming mug of hot chocolate. So the starving feeling was most definitely _not _food-wise – it was undoubtedly girl-wise. Sirius hadn't kissed a girl for about four weeks, ever since the bleach-blonde-haired-girl-who-he-didn't-know-the-name-of who had been there for a couple of nights in a row. So tonight – as per usual – James was off with Lily (but according to James, it was a proper date, _not _the usual kissing in the Transfiguration courtyard or corridors), Peter was struggling with his homework and Remus wasn't feeling very well so was lying in a bed in the Hospital Wing under close scrutiny of Madame Pomfrey, who kept dosing him up with medicinal potions. Sirius was on his way to see him – he felt sorry for Moony. Every month he transformed into a werewolf and underwent a lot of pain.

Sirius sauntered into the Hospital Wing.

"Mr Black! What are you doing?" Madame Pomfrey said disapprovingly, immediately accosting him as soon as he entered.

"Oh, I've come to see Remus, is that okay?" he asked, exercising his seldom-used polite manners (well, they were used but he normally turned on the charm instead of being polite).

"Yes, Mr Black, I suppose it is," she sighed and admitted him towards Remus' bed, which had curtains drawn around it to increase his privacy.

Sirius squeezed between them and smiled brightly at his weak friend, who, surprise, _surprise_, was reading a book (entitled _The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde_, by somebody called Robert Louis Stevenson who Sirius had never heard of).

"Hi Moony," Sirius said cheerfully, sitting down in the armchair beside Remus' bed.

"Hello Padfoot – how are you?" Remus asked, not lifting his eyes from his book. Some would have interpreted this as explicit rudeness but Sirius (and James, Peter, Isabel and Lily) had known Remus long enough to interpret this as completely normal.

"Fine, thanks, mate, you?" he responded.

"Ah, dosed up with plenty of potions," Remus said, "and reading this book, which is quite good, if slightly confusing in parts."

"What is it?" Sirius asked, wrinkling his nose as he observed the picture on the cover of a ghostly-, sad-, evil-looking man.

"'_The Strange Case of Dr_'–" Remus began, but was interrupted by an impatient Sirius.

"I know what the title is Moony, I can read!"

"Sorry. Well, it's a Muggle classic that Isabel lent me," Remus answered.

"Oh. Is it any good?"

"Yeah, it is. It's quite an original plot – there's this man called Dr Jekyll who is all good and a high society Victorian man and he's friendly with somebody called Mr Hyde who's murderous and nasty. And somehow they are connected, but his old friend Mr Utterson is trying to find out the extent of it and why. I haven't got to the end yet so I don't know what happens but I reckon they are the same person," Remus informed him.

"Oh right. Sounds good. Like Polyjuice Potion then?" Sirius suggested.

"Sort of, perhaps. Anyway, have you managed to find yourself the girlfriend? You know, the girlfriend with the capital 'T'?" Remus smirked, though sympathetic.

"Nope. I feel starved of kisses! I do not know what to do at all – I need to kiss a girl!" Sirius whined.

"I'm sure there are plenty that would kiss you," Remus said matter-of-factly. "But you could exercise a little self-control, Sirius. Anyway, I'm sure the right girl will come along eventually. You just need to wait patiently."

"Thanks Moony, you've got a very wise head, you know that?" Sirius smiled.

"Thank you, Padfoot. Thanks for visiting me – James and Peter popped in earlier, as did Lily, and obviously Isabel, with this book. She also lent me some others as she knew I wanted to read some Muggle classics – she bought all of her Jane Austen collection and _Jane Eyre_, _Frankenstein _and _Dracula_, so I've got plenty of things to do," Remus said warmly.

"Okay Moony – see you later, get well soon," Sirius said, patting his friend on the back soothingly and leaving the wing – but as he left, he bumped into somebody.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the voice of the person said – a voice he recognised very well, as it was the same voice that had yelled at him in the toilet of the Hogwarts Express on September the first.

"Hey Petra, it was me really," Sirius said, deciding to take the blame.

"Oh, Sirius. Well, I suppose it was," she said, shooting him a dirty look.

"Who are you visiting?" Sirius asked her good-naturedly, ignoring Petra's hostile facial expressions.

"My cousin Dahlia, she blew up her cauldron in Potions," Petra said.

"Ah, poor dear. I hope she's okay. My good friend Moony is a little under the weather and looks like he's halfway through reading Isabel's whole library of Muggle classics. I despair sometimes, I really do," Sirius told her.

Petra smiled slightly. They were stood outside in the corridor, coincidentally beside a broom cupboard.

"You know Sirius – I kind of felt bad after the train journey," Petra said in a flirtatious voice that Sirius was quick in identifying.

"Really?" he asked. Maybe Petra could satisfy his feelings of starvation. She was not the girlfriend with the capital 'T', as Remus put it, but she was a good kisser and always willing.

"Yes – and I know how I could make it up to you," she whispered in his ear. He smiled slightly as she dragged him into the broom cupboard and shut the door.

*

Isabel smiled at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Though normally she didn't really wear makeup except for the odd bit of concealer and mascara, she knew that as Amanda she would never need it as the girl was absolutely stunning. So, she had to go and find Sirius and enchant him. It shouldn't really have been difficult with these looks, as she was unquestionably beatific in every aspect.

She left the bathroom and stepped out into the hallway. She grinned at a passing seventh year, who narrowly missed walking into a pillar as he watched her with interest.

The only problem now was, where exactly would Sirius be?

In a strike of intuition, she decided to go in the direction of the Hospital Wing. James was with Lily, out on a date (wherever that might be – James told Lily to bring a warm coat so Isabel presumed it was Hogsmeade through one of the secret passageways), Peter was in the library, trying to get his head round some more Transfiguration work and Remus was in the Hospital Wing. Isabel had been to visit him earlier and deposit the books he had requested to keep him busy; she didn't think she had seen a smile as wide as his when she handed him ten books to read.

Surprisingly, not many students were out so she avoided a lot of staring. When she arrived at the Hospital Wing, she wondered whether or not to go in to see if Sirius was in there with Remus – she was unable to see from the door as Remus had curtains drawn around his bed.

"Are you alright, dear?" Madame Pomfrey asked her, having sensed the blonde girl standing uncertainly at the door.

"Yes thank you – has Sirius Black been to visit Remus Lupin this evening?" she asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, he has. He left about fifteen minutes ago – though I swear I saw him go into that broom cupboard with Petra Clarkson," she frowned disapprovingly, and Isabel smiled to herself. Typical Sirius. So she would have to wait somewhere near the broom cupboard for him to reappear and then casually walk by and attract his attention.

"Thank you," Isabel smiled at Madame Pomfrey and went to go and sit on the stone ledge of a nearby window, which was relatively close to the broom cupboard but not a very obvious place to see.

In fact, Isabel didn't have to wait long. Just as she had drawn her Rune Dictionary out of her robe pocket (she wanted to read up on some things), Sirius and Petra exited the broom cupboard. And Sirius was sure that he wouldn't give in again as he wanted to kiss somebody special.

Petra was pleased with herself. And she had now established that everything with Sirius was non-committal so she could just walk away without any strings attached.

"Bye Sirius," Petra said teasingly. Sirius didn't respond. He was staring in the direction of the exquisitely beautiful blonde girl reading a book by the window at the end of the corridor.

"Bye Sirius," Petra repeated. Yet again, Sirius didn't respond. "Sirius?" she asked, tapping his shoulder. He snapped out of his little stupor, and looked back at her.

"Oh, bye Petra," he said unenthusiastically as she walked off, and he made his way towards the blonde girl who had caught his undivided attention.

"He_llo_," Sirius said in his usual charming voice. The blonde girl looked up at him, smiling slightly.

"Hi," she greeted him, shutting her book (Sirius observed it to be a Rune Dictionary).

"What's your name, I don't think I've seen you round before," Sirius asked.

"Amanda, Amanda Burke. Before the summer I was completely devoid of curves and had brown hair, not blonde," Isabel answered, using her pre-prepared story.

"Sirius Black," Sirius grinned, ready to get to know the girl before him.

*

Outside of the castle, a beautiful crescent moon was casting a silvery glow across the Black Lake, Forbidden Forest and the castle. The stars twinkled prettily – the little clusters of them shedding a little light on the completely magical village of Hogsmeade. Lights flickered in the windows of the houses – most of the shops were shut, excluding the Three Broomsticks, Madam Puddifoot's and the Hog's Head. The busiest of all three of them was Madam Rosmerta's pub, the Three Broomsticks. There were barely any free tables and groups were gathered around the wooden tables, warming themselves up with mugs of Butterbeer and Firewhisky.

It was perhaps the obvious thing to do to go and warm yourself up in one of the pubs or Madam Puddifoot's ridiculously romantic coffee shop as the outside air was freezing. Thus not many people were outside, they were all in and nicely warm.

Two figures emerged from the apparently shut Honeyduke's Sweet Shop. They were both wrapped up in coats and scarves, though the girl could hardly hide her flaming red hair underneath her hood, and the boy's glasses practically had frost forming on them due to the cold. They were holding hands – though both wearing woolly gloves at the same time.

"James! You do know we've broken at least _twenty-five_ school rules doing this?" the red-haired girl chastised her boyfriend.

"Lil – where's your sense of adventure?" James grinned mischievously, and pulled her towards the Three Broomsticks.

As James and Lily entered, they took off their coats, multiple scarves and gloves as it was incredibly hot in there – so hot, in fact, that the young barmaid, Rosmerta, was wearing a sleeveless black dress with her customary sparkly turquoise high heels, and her curly blonde hair was piled up on top of her head.

"Oh, hello, James, out past curfew again I suppose?" she raised an eyebrow and James and Lily squeezed past the other customers and sat on a table for two. "Where are your friends?"

"Oh, at school. I bought my _girlfriend_" – James placed much emphasis on this word as he couldn't quite believe it himself – "Lily with me."

"I know who Lily is! So you finally gave into James here, then, eh? You make such a lovely couple," Rosmerta complimented sweetly. Lily blushed and James grinned.

"Anyway, Rosmerta, can we have two Butterbeers, please?" James ordered. She nodded and went back to the bar to get their drinks.

"In here often?" Lily asked jokingly.

"Yep. Usually it was boring Pads, Moony and Wormtail with my hare-brained plans to get you to like me," James smiled – causing Lily to blush once more.

"We normally went to the Hog's Head – though Professor Flitwick always advised Isabel and I to take our own glasses," Lily replied after her reddened face had returned to its usual pale shade.

"Why the Hog's Head?" James asked quizzically, taking a large gulp of his Butterbeer and giving himself a foam moustache, making Lily giggle uncontrollably.

"What? What?" James said, flapping around like a baby bird, attracting some attention from other customers who looked quite amused.

"You – have – a – foam – moustache!" Lily gasped, struggling for breath because of her excessive laughter.

"Oh right," he grinned childishly and licked it off. "Anyway, why the Hog's Head?"

"I didn't think I'd see you in there," Lily admitted, looking quite ashamed. "Because I thought I didn't like you. I thought that I found you the most annoying person ever. I thought I was physically repulsed by you. But it turns out, you can easily mistake love for hate – as proved over the summer when I practically lived for those letters you sent me."

"Why did you never reply?" James asked, taking her hand.

"Because I didn't want to admit it to myself," she said simply.

James snorted. "So you admit it to Isabel who chooses to jump up and down on her bed and bellow for the whole Gryffindor tower to hear?"

"Yep," Lily laughed, "Izzy doesn't exactly have impeccable timing – but I'm glad she did it. Because it means I can do this without beating myself up about it." And she leaned across the small table and kissed him ardently. He ran his hand through her long red hair and didn't want to let go.

Eventually, they had to as they were sat in a public place, which their moment of passion had made them temporarily forget.

"Actually, Lils, I kind of, um, made you something to celebrate our one month anniversary," James said in a quiet, embarrassed sort of voice. Lily smiled kindly at him.

"Really? But I didn't get you anything!" Lily responded.

"It's okay – I didn't buy you anything, it's a poem that I wrote," he said, reddening rapidly.

"Can I read it?" Lily requested excitably.

"Go on then," James said, handing her a piece of purple paper.

Lily focussed her emerald eyes on it and began to read.

"_Lily, you are my dearest petal,_

_Your eyes shine brighter than a highly polished kettle,_

_Your hair is like a flaming, bright auburn fire,_

_For you I'd climb to the top of a church spire,_

_You make me laugh, in a good way, of course,_

_I know you like watching Inspector Morse,_

_When you rejected me everybody told me to give up,_

_Instead I drowned my sorrows in a cup,_

_And the next day appeared just as bright,_

_But didn't really wait until the time was right,_

_I wrote you letters, and plenty of them,_

_Hoping you'd never meet a dashing man who was perhaps called Ken,_

_But one lovely night when the stars were shining,_

_In our bedroom for your love I was pining,_

_Then I heard your friend screaming that you liked me,_

_In my haste to get to you I nearly broke my knee,_

_But I didn't and we raced up the girls' stairs,_

_Wondering what we would find there,_

_And it turned out to be brilliantly true,_

_Something that I definitely know is I love you."_

Lily found it funny – but also incredibly romantic that James had actually taken the time to write a poem for her, even if the rhyming was slightly bad (who thought 'them' rhymed with 'Ken'?).

"Oh my Merlin, James, that is the sweetest thing anybody has ever done for me," she said, her eyes filling up with tears as she hugged him tightly over the table.

_

* * *

_

Sorry about how cheesy James' poem is - but I thought it would be the sort of thing he'd write :) please review for the next chapter which involves a party and more Amanda/Sirius! Thanks for reading, have a very merry Christmas,

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	11. It Takes Two

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Now it's a partyyy! Thank you to Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl, Perminatly Lost In Thought, Sam-EvansBlue, vanillabean18 (thanks for the multiple reviews), Rhiannon da crazy girl, Stephie Cat-Kat and sarlovesoccer (thanks also for the multiple reviews) for reviewing and thank you to BlackWolf18 for adding my story to your alert list! This chapter is a biggun, so enjoy!

I also thought I'd say that my brief mention of Remus reading _The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde _actually had meaning because this story is sort of like that, except Amanda isn't evil and doesn't kill people ;) we had just done English Lit coursework on it when I thought of the idea so I thought I would mention it as providing inspiration...

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

_**It Takes Two**_

"Guess what is happening in three days!" Sirius called, jumping on the beds of each of his friends individually.

"Pads, shuddup," James' muffled voice came from somewhere underneath his duvet.

"Is it morning?" Peter's bewildered voice said groggily.

"Yes it is! A fine, beautiful, bird-singing-full morning!" Sirius said in a crazily happy voice that immediately woke Remus up – he was now back in their room, back to full health and fully clued up on Muggle classics, having read all of the books Isabel lent him.

Remus sat bolt upright in bed, with a beater's bat (snatched from beside Sirius' bed) posed threateningly in his hand – and practically screeched, "What's the matter?"

"Whoa, calm down, Moony, my man!" Sirius said, patting his agitated friend on the back. "Don't worry, there are no burglars in here. Put the bat _down_..."

Remus' eyes widened in concern as he hastily put the bat aside. "No honestly... what's the matter? You're never this cheerful in the morning!"

"Well, it is because something _spectacular_ is happening in three days!" Sirius said, jumping on James' bed so much that a disgruntled, and half-asleep, James fell out of the side and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

"It better be good, Pads," James groaned, "because it's still dark outside."

"Yes, it is _very_ good!" Sirius grinned.

"So what is it?" Peter prompted, glancing at the clock on his bedside table (a present from his mother) and observed that it was half past five.

"You mean – you don't _know_?" Sirius asked, his eyebrows shooting upwards incredulously.

"No, Pads. Nobody wakes up at this God forsaken hour so nobody's brain functions properly!" James whined.

"Just tell us!" Remus said, still sat bolt upright in his bed, now yawning.

"Well... this is a _big_ clue!" Sirius beamed at them. "In three days it is the eleventh of October!"

"And that date is significant _because_?" James asked irritably, still very angry about being woken up at such a stupid time as half past five on a Friday morning when he could have been sleeping comfortably in his bed – but no, Sirius had to _jump_ on it so he fell out!

"I do not _believe_ this!" Sirius bellowed.

"Shut it, Padfoot, some other people – and in fact, that includes us – are trying to sleep!" Peter growled begrudgingly.

"I still do not _believe_ this!" he yelled again.

"SHUT UP!" James warned him.

"I will not shut up as I still do not believe this! You do not know what is happening on the eleventh of October?" Sirius whined.

"Be quiet, Padfoot, you'll wake everybody up, including the girls!" Remus said.

"I do not CARE!" Sirius hollered, diving off James' bed onto Remus', whose was next to it, and knocked Remus onto the floor and banged his own head on the bedpost.

"Ow, Padfoot!" Remus moaned.

"Be quiet, Moony, I happened to have just injured my BLOODY HEAD on the BLOODY BEDPOST!" Sirius shouted.

"Oh boo hoo, SHUT YOUR TRAP!" James bellowed.

"You're supposed to be my FRIEND!" Sirius pretend-cried.

"You have to be the most annoying person I know, Padfoot. Do not agitate James. Do not shove James and Remus – and me, for that matter – out of our beds. Do not yell. Do not wake us up EVER AGAIN at this ungodly hour. Do you comprehend me?" Peter told him surprisingly calmly.

Sirius turned to him with his grey eyes wide in surprise.

"Bloody Merlin, Pete, when did your words expand so much?" he asked.

Peter rolled his eyes and lay back in his bed.

"Come on, you still haven't guessed what October the eleventh is. Do you want another clue?" Sirius begged.

"Oh fine, give us another bloody clue so we can go back to SLEEP!" James said warningly.

"Okay... well, the significance is that somebody IN THIS ROOM was born seventeen years ago on October the eleventh THIS YEAR!" Sirius said, hoping that this, _finally_, would give them the much-needed prompt for them to work out what would be happening in three days.

James' head suddenly looked up, looking much less groggy.

Sirius noted this eagerly_ – _"See James, you know it don't you? Ah, ah? Am I right?"

"Is it really my birthday in three days?" James said, looking very bright and excited.

"NO IT IS NOT!" Sirius growled. "YOUR BIRTHDAY IS IN MARCH!"

"Oh yes, I forgot," James said grumpily, and his head fell back on the floor.

"It is somebody ELSE'S birthday. I give you THREE guesses!" Sirius said, now tired of his friends' incompetence to work out that it was his seventeenth birthday, his _coming of age_, was in three days and therefore they would be having the biggest party ever held in the Room of Requirement to celebrate!

Remus rolled his eyes now. "Look Sirius, we know it's your birthday in three days and we are very happy for you and understand that a large party is probably included in the whole thing, but did you really _have_ to wake us up at such an early time when we have one day of school left before the weekend?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"HE FINALLY GETS IT! PRAISE MERLIN!" Sirius howled and hugged Remus ecstatically. Then he looked at his other friends, and added, "And yes, a humongous party is involved!"

*

Lily and Isabel decided to wait in the Gryffindor common room for the boys to come down the stairs so they could go to breakfast with them. The two girls had woken up a bit earlier than usual – Isabel had woken about five and had gone for a run. When she was back, around six, Lily was awake and in the shower. Due to the extra time they had, they took extra special care on their hair for once – it was usually brush it (in Lily's case, as her hair just had a slight kink in it which suited the layered hairstyle she had) or run their fingers through it to make it slightly tamer (in Isabel's case). But this morning, Lily had curled hers using her wand, and Isabel had actually taken the time to straighten her corkscrew curls so her hair now came down to her waist and was smooth and silky. Isabel couldn't believe how elegant she looked – she hoped she would impress Jonas, who would undoubtedly be there at breakfast.

Unfortunately, it was quarter to eight, and the boys were nowhere to be seen.

Lily was tapping her foot impatiently whilst Isabel read the _Daily Prophet _– Alethia had come and dropped it off in the common room, seeing as they weren't at breakfast yet.

"Anything interesting going on?" Lily asked casually.

"Oh my Merlin!" Isabel exclaimed. "Apparently the Death Eaters tried to storm a Muggle village on the Welsh coast!"

"Did they?" Lily asked, concerned. After all, Isabel's grandparents lived on the Welsh coast.

"There was only a couple of them, You-Know-Who wasn't with them, but the Aurors got there in time to capture a few of them," Isabel said, scanning her eyes across the article. "A witch named Astilbe King was murdered, and her sister, Rosamund King, along with seven others, had the Cruciatus Curse used on them," she added glumly.

"I hate You-Know-Who, and those bloody Death Eaters! They're just so sick and awful!" Lily ranted.

"I agree with you there, Lily," James said, emerging from the boys' staircase, fully dressed but looking rather tired. So did Remus and Peter – though Sirius looked bright and happy.

"Wow, Iz, I like your hair!" Sirius said, and Isabel smiled.

"Thanks – anyway, why are you looking so cheerful and the others so damn tired?" Isabel asked, looking at the exhausted looks on their faces.

"Dearest Padfoot here decided that he would wake us up at _half past five_ to let us know that in three days it was his seventeenth birthday," James said through gritted teeth, though slotting his hand into Lily's softened his expression.

"Anyway, breakfast!" Remus reminded them, and they left the common room.

"So yes, it's my birthday and you are invited to my party!" Sirius grinned.

"Where is your party?" Isabel asked sceptically.

"Room of Requirement, of course! Anyway, later, I'm going to go and invite_Amanda_," he said with a dreamy look in his eyes. Isabel suddenly became very interested in her shoes as they crossed the Entrance Hall – nobody noticed as the long curtain of newly straightened brown hair covered her face.

"I have yet to meet the lovely _Amanda_ but I have heard endless tales about her," Remus said as they entered the Great Hall.

"She is amazing!" Sirius said, using the same dreamy tone.

Isabel looked up at the Hufflepuff table, and immediately caught Jonas' eye. He looked at her in astonishment as he drank in the full effect of her long straight hair, and she smiled at him.

She sat down, and turned her head to Sirius, who was rapidly wolfing down a full English breakfast.

"Er, Sirius, you'll be inviting Jonas, right?" she asked innocently.

He eyed her suspiciously, his stormy grey eyes piercing. "I suppose so, why?"

"Oh, no reason!" Isabel said brightly, and began to eat an apple.

"I suspect that there is something you aren't telling me..." Sirius said in an annoying singsong voice. Isabel looked up at him, her sapphire eyes meeting his grey ones.

"Well you suspect wrong," she told him.

"I do not! I am the master of detection and I, um, detect that there is something you aren't telling me!" Sirius babbled. Isabel looked at him as if he was an alien just landed on the Gryffindor table from outer space and had slimy green skin, sixteen tentacles and thirty-two eyes. She thought he was sometimes downright crazy.

"Well, you're not exactly Sherlock Holmes as you can't detect something that isn't there!" she said, using his annoying sing song voice back at him.

"Elementary, my dear Willoughby," he said in a snooty voice.

"Total rip off of that line," Isabel laughed, moving on to some cereal.

"So are you saying I'm not a good enough Sherlock Holmes? That I am not superior to other detectives?" Sirius said, widening his eyes in mock repulsion.

"Do you _know _of any other detectives?" Isabel countered – Sirius was a stereotypical pureblood in the fact that he knew very little of anything Muggle, having grown up in a house that taught that all Muggles were lowlife and scum. Of course Sirius didn't share these views, but his parents, Walburga and Orion Black, had enforced them into his mind.

"Actually, Izzy, I will surprise you, because _I do_," Sirius said cockily.

"Go on then," she prompted, intrigued at where his Muggle detective knowledge was coming from.

"Inspector Morse," he said proudly.

"That's one," Isabel snorted.

"Well, I know at least one, that's something!" he protested. "And I think I know what you aren't telling me," he said, leaning across the table and whispering at a quickly reddening Isabel.

"It's nothing!" she said, though she had turned a brilliant shade of magenta that was enough to give away exactly what she was hiding.

"No it isn't, it is _something_! Do not try and pretend with me, Sirius Black, alias Padfoot, master of pretence!" he grinned wickedly. "I know what it is and if you don't agree that there is something I will yell it out for the whole hall to hear."

"There isn't anything," Isabel said calmly, but was rapidly losing her cool.

"Alright then, so you won't mind me doing this," Sirius smiled, and stood up on his chair, and began to yell, "HEY EVERYBODY! ISABEL LOVES J–"

At this point Isabel had pulled him down and managed to silence him by using a highly unique method of silencing.

Shoving his face in the fruit bowl.

A couple of seconds later, when everybody had stopped staring at Sirius and Isabel in amusement, Sirius looked up at her and said, with a lazy, boyish grin etched upon his handsome face, "Told you so."

*

Isabel was standing in the bedroom she shared with Lily, feeling slightly queasy. It was the eleventh of October, and in approximately fifteen minutes she would be expected in the Room of Requirement for the party celebrating Sirius' seventeenth birthday.

Usually, she looked forward to parties – it gave her a much-needed break from homework and studying – and spent a lot of time getting herself ready. And tonight, she had spent a lot of time getting herself ready – she was wearing makeup, her hair was in slightly softer curls than the usual corkscrew curls it fell in, and she was wearing tight black skinny jeans and a silvery grey top cinched in at her waist with a studded black belt, with multiple silver necklaces around her neck, a silver ring sparkled on her right hand and she had thrown a black blazer on over the top. Her favourite part of her outfit was the pair of red peep-toe high heels she had on her feet as they made her usually five foot ten frame four inches taller, towering over Lily's five foot five (even in heels) and she would almost be as tall as Sirius, and definitely as tall as James.

She was really pleased with how she looked – Lily had gone for a royal blue strapless dress and strappy heels, but she thought her kind of rock chick look suited her skinny frame much more than Lily's style, which was much more equipped for curvier girls – and seeing as Lily had ample curves, she looked amazing.

Lily was already off with James, but Isabel had stayed behind, feigning a headache and wanting to drink some headache potion she had in her trunk. It wasn't really a lie as she was feeling slightly ill – thought really it was due to her nerves of having to play two people tonight. Sirius' party was bound to go on into the small hours – despite it being a Monday night – and was due to start around eight, so she had decided to be Isabel until about half ten and then leave, complaining of a worse headache so she would have to go and lie down by herself, then going to the girls' bathroom on the floor below the seventh to transform into Amanda and change into Amanda's party outfit – she had changed the size of a new dress she hadn't worn yet, a slinky one of black lace which she hadn't the courage to wear herself, so that it fitted Amanda's curves and was going to wear the same shoes, but paint her lips scarlet and line her eyes with kohl. It was oh-so-simple; she had enlarged the inside of her studded clutch bag so that all of her clothes would fit in it so she wouldn't have to dash back to the Gryffindor common room to metamorphose into her alternative persona.

She glanced at the clock. It was time for her to go – she picked up her clutch bag and left the room. The Gryffindor tower was empty, as all of them had been invited (including the first-, second- and third-years – though they had to leave at eleven) so she didn't have to worry about being stopped by anybody on the way.

As Isabel neared the seventh floor corridor, she could hear the faint booming of music – in typical Sirius fashion, it was heavy rock music. She laughed as she imagined the teachers hearing the faint beating of drums and guitars and wondering where on earth it was coming from. It might not really have been a secret, though, as Sirius and his fellow Marauders had taken it upon themselves to remind everybody of the fact it was his birthday. Thus, to celebrate, they had snuck into the Slytherin Common Room and painted '_Hip, hip, hooray! It's Padfoot's birthday!_' across the wall, made the fruit at breakfast sing 'Happy Birthday' to him – not one, but _seventeen_times – and had stood up on the tables in class whenever the Professor's back was turned and done a crazy little rave dance. It had been quite amusing – Lily had been slightly disapproving, especially of the Slytherin thing, though when Sirius gallantly reminded her of Severus Snape being in Slytherin, she calmed down and went back to staring at James.

A couple of animated first-years were standing beside the tapestry, wearing the glitziest party clothes they owned (although they looked sweet, all that glitter was hurting Isabel's eyes like some kind of hypnotic optical illusion) and giggling wildly. Isabel smiled at them as she went through the open door and into the Room of Requirement.

The Marauders (and Lily) had made the room look fantastic – it was huge, with a humungous sparkling glitter ball hanging from the middle of the ceiling, multi-coloured disco lights were flashing everywhere, music was booming, people were dancing and Isabel could see Sirius, dancing on top of a table with James, who was trying to teach him how to do the '_Time Warp_', though not very successfully.

"Izzy!" Lily's ecstatic call came from halfway across the room – she rushed towards her best friend, and threw her arms around her in a hug.

"Lils! The party's great, isn't it?" Isabel grinned, as the two friends looked over all the students enjoying themselves to the sound of '_My Generation_' (by one of Sirius and Isabel's favourite bands, the Who).

"Yes – want to come over to the Marauders?" Lily asked, and led a nodding Isabel through the crowds. It was really easy to spot Isabel, as she towered over most people there, including a lot of the seventh-year boys. She attracted quite a few admiring looks, and she smiled back shyly as Lily pulled her through.

"IZZY!" Sirius hollered, jumping off the table and throwing his arms around Isabel, reminiscent in the way of Lily had about thirty seconds earlier.

"Happy Birthday Sirius," she smiled, hugging him back.

"Oh Merlin – this is weird!" Sirius said, drinking in the full effect of Isabel's outfit – but mostly the height of the heels.

"Oh, don't I look okay?" she asked concernedly, and he shook his head.

"No, you look amazing – but you're _almost as tall as me in those CRAZY SHOES_!" he yelled, pointing to the shoes as if they had just pulled a rude face at him.

"Ha, ha," she smiled audaciously, "you're such a short-arse."

"Nobody calls me a 'short-arse' and gets away with it!" he pretend-growled and spun her round wildly as the music moved on to '_I Get Around_' by the Beach Boys, a band Sirius wouldn't _normally _admit to liking but Peter and Remus were ardent fans so he could get away with putting them on the playlist.

"Okay, stop, STOP!" she yelled, laughing.

"Why? So you can go and find your lovely _almost_-boyfriend whose name begins with 'J', ends with 'S' and has an 'ona' in the middle?" he said, smiling sweetly and batting his abnormally long eyelashes.

"Er, no, perhaps, um..." she stammered.

"There is no use lying to me, I am, after all, Sherlock Holmes!" he said, pulling a scary face.

"I didn't know Sherlock Holmes was supposed to look like the giant squid," she chuckled, and disappeared off into the crowd of gyrating bodies.

"I WILL GET YOU!" Sirius shouted, attracting strange stares but he merely smiled at them.

Eventually, Isabel found Jonas. Jonas was very tall, the same height as James, so Isabel equalled his height in her shoes which were causing lots of shoe-loving girls to stare at and covet.

"Isabel," he grinned welcomingly. He was standing by a group of his friends – two Hufflepuff boys named Rob Wilson and John Hargreaves, and three Ravenclaws called Michael Pritchard, Tom Parker and Keith Stewart – and smiled widely when he saw Isabel before him. "You look bloody amazing," he whispered in her ear, and she blushed.

"Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself!" she complimented right back, observing his outfit: flattering dark blue jeans with a loose white shirt and grey Converse trainers.

"Want to dance?" he asked, as his friends tried to chat up a group of scantily-clad fifth-year girls who were no doubt dressed in that manner because they felt that it would attract Sirius' attention, though he was too involved in dancing to '_Born to be Wild_' by Steppenwolf – which involved him trying to swing off the glitter ball, which seemed to be much sturdier than it looked, as it could take the weight of a six foot three, muscular seventeen-year-old quite easily.

"Okay," she beamed at him and they went onto the dance floor and began to dance together.

Unfortunately, the music Sirius had chosen wasn't the best to dance to, it was more suited to singing along rather loudly and swaying a bit. Lily had decided that she wanted to dance properly to stalked over to the record player in the corner, sifted through the collection and put on what she wanted to listen to, and took James onto the dance floor next to Isabel and Jonas.

"Hey Lil!" Isabel said enthusiastically as Lily's choice of song came on – '_You Really Got Me_' by the Kinks. "Great song!"

"I know," Lily replied as James spun her under his arm.

"Did I tell you that you look fantastic?" Jonas muttered in Isabel's ear as he pulled her slightly closer.

"You did," she smiled, colouring again.

"Well I'm going to say it again," he grinned charmingly, spinning her round.

Isabel didn't think she'd ever felt the same about a boy before – and dancing with him to one of her favourite songs, she felt completely immersed in the music and in the moment.

*

At twenty past ten, Isabel shook herself out of her little dancing-induced stupor and began to complain of a headache. Jonas took her to sit down – they had been dancing solidly for about two hours – and got her a drink of Gillywater, but Isabel still complained that she had a headache.

"Is there anything I can do, take you to the Hospital Wing, perhaps?" Jonas suggested, notes of unease evident in his voice.

"It's fine – I get headaches quite regularly, I have some headache potion in my trunk and I just go to sleep. I'll have to leave the party, though," Isabel said sadly, though she knew very well that she would be back in about twenty minutes as Amanda Catherine Burke, the beautiful blonde Hufflepuff she had invented, and be back on the road towards being Sirius Black's girlfriend that wasn't dropped after about five minutes.

"Do you want me to walk you there?" he asked.

"No, its fine, you go and enjoy yourself," she said, patting his shoulder slightly, "and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, if you're sure," he said, grinning. Isabel kissed him on the cheek and exited the room. She wanted to get to the bathroom on the floor below to transform into Amanda before the first-, second- and third-years left the party in half an hour.

Luckily, it was empty – though the only people who would have been in there would have been young Ravenclaws, young Hufflepuffs (the first-, second- and third-years of Gryffindor got invited – even with the restrictions – purely because they _were _Gryffindors) and any Slytherins, who, needless to say, were completely banned from any Gryffindor-related celebration, with a threat of excessive hexing and possible thuggish behaviour. And none of them would be in that bathroom at half past ten on a Monday evening as it was very far from any of the Common Rooms, though it was reasonably close to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and thus the new Professor, Professor Matthias Griffin, had his office nearby so she would have to be quiet.

Isabel locked herself into a cubicle after wiping all of her makeup off at the sink – she changed out of her tight jeans, silver top, jacket, heels, jewellery and belt and into the slinky black lace dress. She drank the violet potion – the familiar sweet taste trickled down her throat, and within seconds she was the short, curvy blonde beauty she had christened Amanda. She walked back out, towards the mirror, and painted her lips a ripe cherry red and smudged a little eye liner around her grey-blue eyes. Originally she had planned to wear the stilettos again, but she didn't think her feet could take it and transfigured one of her multiple necklaces into a pair of plain black ballet flats. She slid her feet into them, and she observed herself in the mirror. She looked more than good, but she didn't want to attract _too_ much attention as she wasn't, strictly speaking, a proper student. Hopefully she would be able to encourage Sirius to go for a walk with her.

She put all of her 'Isabel' clothes into her studded clutch, which was now red to match her lipstick. Actually, she was surprised – she didn't look like a tart, she looked unpredictably classy and sophisticated. Smiling, she left the bathroom and made her way back to the party room, and let herself in.

Isabel made sure that she didn't attract too much attention as she cautiously moved through the dancing crowd towards where Sirius was standing, drinking Butterbeer and Firewhisky like there was no tomorrow, laughing and joking with Remus and Peter (James was evidently still off with Lily in the crowd, dancing to the new song – '_I'm A Believer_' by the Monkees).

"So I turned Snivellus' robes red and gold!" Sirius chortled heartily, spraying some of his Firewhisky over an unsuspecting Peter, who looked flabbergasted when he was suddenly coated in the warm, sticky liquid.

Isabel looked meaningfully at Sirius – and Remus nudged him in the ribs when he saw.

"Oi, Moony, that hurt, you fool– oh, hello," he grinned captivatingly as he gained awareness of Isabel's, or rather, Amanda's, presence.

"Hi," she smiled bashfully.

"Want to dance?" he asked her, immediately grasping her hand in his and leading her towards the edge of the crowd.

They danced together for about ten minutes, and Isabel received a lot of jealous looks from the girls around the edge who had been hoping to dance with Sirius themselves.

"Want to go somewhere quieter?" Sirius whispered in her ear, making her skin tingle. She nodded, and he led her, though gently, towards the door and out of the room. The place they eventually stopped at was a bench at the end of the corridor, looking out into the star-spangled night.

"You look absolutely beautiful," he told her, leaning in further than Isabel would have perhaps felt comfortable with. She had never kissed anyone before – something she had admitted once to Sirius who found it hilarious. So when he leaned in towards her, she stiffened. Sirius didn't seem to notice though, and leaned in further. She breathed in, and made the quick decision she would have to kiss him otherwise he wouldn't be able to sustain his interest in Amanda, shallow boy that he was. But that was what she was hoping to change – so when he bought his lips to hers, she responded and ran her hands through his hair as they shared a passionate kiss.

_

* * *

_

Ooh la la... hope you liked Sirius' birthday party! Thanks for reading, please review for the next chapter, which involves a bit of Sirius/Amanda but also a bit of Sirius upsetting Isabel... Merry Christmas, please review, it would be a lovely nearly-Christmas present... hint, hint... :)

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	12. Lonely

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _ONE MORE SLEEP TO GO :D I'm so happy! Thank you to Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl (thanks for your multiple reviews), vampire-luver101, Lisbry, Stephie Cat-Kat, StandUpEvenIfYouStandAlone (thanks also for your multiple reviews), sarlovesoccer, vanillabean18, .limits111, beebes, LittleRed22 and MaloryCullen14 for reviewing! Thank you to ClaireMarieCullen, Freya-Rhianna, Lisbry and for adding my story to your alert subscriptions and thank you to Freya-Rhianna, Lisbry and MorrociaIsMad for adding my story to your favourites! I hope you enjoy this chapter...

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

_**Lonely**_

The following weekend was the first Hogsmeade date of the year. Isabel wasn't really sure she would be able to go as she had that much work to complete. Lily had managed to complete all of her assignments and was now sitting, curled up, in an armchair in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room and was reading the _Evening Prophet_. Isabel was halfway through a Herbology essay concerning poisonous plants.

"Did you know that the lead singer of the Green Thestrals, Fantasia Gold, just got engaged to the Head of the Department for Magical Games and Sports, Hamish MacFarlan? You know, the one who used to captain the Montrose Magpies?" Lily informed Isabel as she flicked through the pages carelessly.

"That's nice," Isabel commented absentmindedly, quickly referring back to _A Hundred Magical Herbs and Fungi_ so she could check something.

"I always thought she was quite young for him," Lily continued. "She's about twenty-six, and he's forty. But he's still pretty good-looking, and she is stunning."

"Yeah," Isabel agreed. She wasn't really a fan of the Green Thestrals – she preferred Muggle music, a trait mirrored in Sirius. Lily quite liked them – they were an all girl group that sang songs that could only be classified as a cross between rock and pop – and thought the lead singer, Fantasia, was amazing. And it wasn't really a secret that Peter had a thing for the lead guitarist, Mitzi Electra – he had a large poster of her with her glittery raspberry pink guitar by his bed. And Isabel had told him, _countless_ times, that Mitzi, and no doubt _Electra_, was not her proper name. But he didn't listen and still fantasised about the time when she would be Mitzi Pettigrew (like that was ever going to happen).

"You're not really interested in the Green Thestrals, are you, Izzy?" Lily asked, eyeing her over the top of the paper.

"Not really, Lil, sorry," Isabel apologised, and quickly scribbled the conclusion to her three-feet-long essay for the new Herbology teacher, Professor Sprout.

"It's okay. It's just nice to read some news that's not Death Eater or You-Know-Who related or depressing, you know?" Lily said sadly. Isabel had to agree with this. For the past few weeks, everything had been to do with He Who Must Not Be Named and the people he and his Death Eater followers had been torturing, killing and controlling.

Isabel looked up and smiled weakly. "Yes, Lil – it is nice to hear something positive," she concurred.

"Oh, and listen to this! Celestina Warbeck is cutting a charity single for St Mungo's – it's a rendition of the Puddlemere United anthem, '_Beat Back Those Bludgers, Boys, and Chuck That Quaffle Here_'," Lily persisted.

"Great," Isabel said – her mother enjoyed listening to Celestina Warbeck very much, she was always on in the sitting room on the radio. Personally, Isabel was kind of sick of listening to '_You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me_'.

"What's great?" Sirius asked, jumping onto the settee next to Isabel, and sitting on her copy of _A History of Magic_by Bathilda Bagshot, which Isabel needed for her History of Magic essay, right after she had perfected the _Aguamenti _charm for Professor Flitwick.

"Celestina Warbeck is releasing a single of Puddlemere United's theme tune in aid of St Mungo's," Lily informed him without raising her head from the paper.

"Ugh! PUDDLEMERE UNITED!" he yelled angrily. "I hate them! The Montrose Magpies are so much better – and speaking of Quidditch, Iz, James has scheduled a practice for tomorrow afternoon."

Isabel groaned.

"What? I thought you liked whacking Bludgers with me in the direction of slightly annoying players..." he pouted – Sirius and Isabel had created a little scoring system for aiming the Bludgers at different people in the opposing team. It was ten points for the Chasers, twenty for the Keeper and Beaters and thirty for the Seeker – and if they were playing against Slytherin, those points quadrupled. They were very competitive and Isabel had won their little competition last year (having scored a hundred and eighty points in the game against Slytherin).

"I do, but have you seen my pile of homework? I am going to have to give Hogsmeade a miss tomorrow, just to complete it," she moaned, focusing wholly on the glass in front of her which she was trying to fill with water. She had mastered the charm easily enough in class, but it was very difficult to do it non-verbally.

_Aguamenti..._ she thought, but her focus was interrupted once again by Sirius.

"You have to come to Hogsmeade! It's practically a rule – you need to go and have some fun," he protested.

_Aguamenti..._

"Come on, Iz, I know you told us at the start of the year that you would have to work hard but you're practically working your arse off!" he whined.

_AGUAMENTI..._

"You need a break! You need to come with us and have a laugh and mess about!"

_A-G-U-A-M-E-N-T-I..._

"Come on, when was the last time you properly escaped these walls and had a good time?"

_A – G – U – A – M – E – N – T – I!_

"Sure, don't listen to me Izzy, but you're just going to work yourself ill! You shouldn't have taken so many subjects and piled this much work on yourself!"

Something inside Isabel snapped and she stopped trying to concentrate on filling the glass with water – which is was slowly doing, but kept stopping as her concentration was continuously being interrupted by Sirius' protestations.

"Look, Sirius, just because you are taking about five NEWTs doesn't mean I can't take all mine! I want to do them and if I have to miss a couple of Hogsmeade weekends, then so be it. I thrive under pressure and like having work to do to keep myself busy!" she countered.

"Yeah, but when did you last go out properly and had a good time?" Sirius asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"At lunchtime, I went to the library and did some reading," she said defiantly, deciding to work on the charm later and putting her History of Magic things in front of her.

"Since when has reading been _fun_?" he asked, snorting. She glared at him.

"It was recreational reading," she snarled. "And I went to your party on Monday night!"

"Yeah, but you went early!" he responded, remembering Jonas coming to inform him that Isabel had left because she had a headache.

"So?" she practically yelled. Lily was looking slightly scared – it was highly unusual for Isabel and Sirius to disagree. Her and James, maybe, but not Isabel and Sirius. They were really good friends.

"Look, Iz, I'm really sorry," he said, dropping his tone to one of such friendly concern that Isabel couldn't help but soften, "but please come to Hogsmeade. I'll stay up all night tomorrow and help you finish your work if you want, but please come with us. You won't regret it."

"Sirius, it's really kind of you to say that but I have three essays to do tomorrow – Muggle Studies, Potions and Transfiguration – besides some Arithmancy charts to draw up and calculate," she told him, glancing at the list she had written herself in the homework planner her cousin Emmeline had bought her to organise herself.

"I'll help you," he shrugged, "if it means you can come to Hogsmeade."

"No, honestly, you don't know how long that will take me to do. Each of the essays will probably take about an hour, and the Arithmancy charts and calculations about an hour and a half. Are you prepared to sit and help me for, what, four and a half hours?" Isabel asked dubiously.

"Yeah, okay. Look, you could do two hours after breakfast, which will get the Muggle Studies and Potions essays done, go into Hogsmeade around half ten, come back at three, and do the Transfiguration essay and the Arithmancy charts before and after dinner, if needed. I'll help you, anyway. If you do them in the library, you'll probably be able to do them quicker," he pointed out.

Isabel beamed at him. "Okay," she said happily. "You've persuaded me – I'll come in to Hogsmeade with you."

"Good," he grinned, and put his feet up on the table Isabel was using as a temporary desk – narrowly missing her freshly done Herbology essay on which the ink was supposed to be drying.

"So, Lily, did you hear Hamish MacFarlan has gotten engaged to Fantasia Gold?" he asked, and Isabel rolled her eyes and smiled to herself.

*

Amanda Burke flicked her blonde hair behind her shoulders as she walked down the Transfiguration corridor towards the courtyard – Sirius would probably be here, messing about with his fellow Marauders in the piles of leaves that had been left there by a moody Argus Filch.

"Hey! Look at me – I'm a _leaf monster_!" Amanda giggled as she passed the windows, seeing Sirius covered in leaves and trying to tackle Peter, as James tried to build himself a little cave out of leaves (but needless to say it kept collapsing as he tried to get in it) and Remus was trying to read a book.

Her giggle betrayed her presence – all four Marauders looked up to see the curvaceous blonde smiling flirtatiously in Sirius' direction. Sirius grinned at her, and, due to his lack of concentration, Peter managed to shove him down in a pile of leaves next to them.

"Oi, Peter, GERROFF!" Isabel heard Sirius' muffled calls as he attempted to wrestle Peter off him – she leaned against the door frame and pushed her long blonde hair back (not hers, obviously – Amanda's).

James and Remus roared with laughter, and Isabel giggled, as they watched Sirius push Peter off him. Eventually, Sirius emerged, with a couple of leaves stuck in his sexily tousled hair and he left his friends to come over to Amanda.

"Hey," he grinned.

"Hello," she smiled, "I thought we could go for a walk."

"Sounds absolutely spiffing," he smiled charmingly – and then whacked his forehead. "Did I just say '_spiffing_'?"

Isabel bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Apparently it wasn't very impressive to use phrases like 'spiffing' – which he usually did when talking to Isabel, Lily and his friends.

"Sorry about that – temporary insanity," he said, entwining his fingers with hers. Amanda blushed as he led her towards the Entrance Hall, and out into the grounds. Technically, as it was about eight in the evening, they weren't supposed to be in the grounds – but the only person who would see them was Hagrid, and he wasn't likely to tell on them as Sirius knew some things about his suspicious pink umbrella he kept tapping the pumpkins with.

They eventually sat down by the lake together, underneath the Marauders' favourite tree. Sirius looked into her pale blue eyes, flecked with grey, and leaned in. Isabel had only kissed Sirius once before – as Amanda – but at least this time she was sort of ready, and let herself melt into him in the moonlight.

As she was kissing him, she remembered all Sirius' hints that he wanted Isabel to go to Hogsmeade, and that he would stay up and help her complete her homework all night. Was he still... _into _Amanda? She wanted to ask him. She needed to establish _exactly _how he felt about Isabel, to ensure that her plan was working.

She pulled away, and cleared her throat.

"Is something wrong?" Sirius asked uneasily.

"Actually... sort of," she admitted. "You know Isabel?"

"Iz? Yeah, she's great! You'd really like her," he told her. Isabel had to stop herself from smiling that moment.

"What exactly is the relationship between you and Isabel? If you don't mind me asking... how do you feel about her?" Isabel asked, choosing her words carefully and pushing Amanda's long blonde hair out of her pretty face.

Sirius sighed, and looked out across the lake. "Isabel is a very close friend – she's my best friend, after James. We both play the same position on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, we help each other out with homework, we laugh at each other's jokes, we worked together to get Lily to agree to go out with James... but that's what it is. Our relationship is purely friendly – I think she has a bit of a thing for that Hufflepuff Chaser, Jonas Carmichael."

"And... how do you feel about her? Do you think she's pretty?" Isabel continued slowly, entering difficult territory but still curious all the same.

"I suppose so, but she's kind of average, y'know? Her eyes are reasonably pretty, and she's got a nice laugh. But she's my _friend_, and only that. She's like my sister, kissing her like we just kissed would feel so incestuous I would throw up," he laughed.

Isabel's eyes filled up with tears. She didn't know why, she didn't know how. She didn't know why Sirius' words stung so much when he was her friend too, and that was how he was supposed to feel about her... wasn't it?

But she would give the game away, and the hour was nearly up.

"I'm sorry, Sirius, I have to go – I'll see you soon," she sobbed, and ran off back to the castle, leaving him calling her name back at the tree.

She felt her chest shrink, her hair curl, her curves disappear and her height increase as she ran through the corridors, not worrying over whether or not she would bump into Filch, who didn't like her – primarily because she was friends with the Marauders – and in the direction of a girls' bathroom.

She cried out all the tears – which turned out to be a lot – into the sink and down her purple jumper.

Finally, about fifteen minutes later, she had managed to dry her jumper and splash her tear-stained face with cold water, and tie her hair back in a messy bun. She blinked in the mirror – her "reasonably pretty" sapphire eyes stared back at her piercingly.

"Come on, Isabel, you can't stay in here all night," she chastised herself, and left the bathroom. But as she walked along the corridor that passed the library, she saw the lake glinting in the moonlight and it made her well up again – she leaned against the wall and began to cry once more, sobbing into her hands as she crouched down pathetically.

She didn't know how long she was there before she heard footsteps coming from the direction of the library. She didn't even look up.

"Isabel? Are you okay?"

She heard the comforting, soothing voice of Jonas and jumped up, and started to cry into his jumper as he patted her on the back, slightly confused but telling her that it was okay, whatever was wrong.

"I'm sorry, Jonas, I'm sorry... I don't know what's wrong with me," she stuttered between sobs.

He patted her on the bag, hugging her tightly and said, "Shhh... it's okay, Isabel..."

When she was eventually all cried out – for the second time that night, she looked up at him and he smiled at her. She returned it weakly, and he hugged her once more.

"Isabel... I really like you," he whispered, "this might not be the right time, with you being so upset, but..."

She looked up at him, her eyes shining excitedly.

"...would you come to Hogsmeade with me?" he asked nervously.

She nodded, smiling, and he hugged her again.

_

* * *

_

Sorry about the slight sadness in that chapter :) Please review for the next one which involves a Quidditch match! If I get enough reviews I'll update again tonight and tomorrow, CHRISTMAS DAY, too! Lots of Christmas hugs,

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	13. Unspoken Things

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Another update!!!! I'm just so ECSTATIC about the fact that it's 5 hours and 20 minutes till CHRISTMAS that I'm going to update again: thank you to sarlovesoccer, ClaireMarieCullen, Freya-Rhianna, Stephie Cat-Kat, 552678 and xc1016 for reviewing! As it's Christmas... would it be too much to ask if everybody who read this chapter reviewed??????? It would make my Christmas and I'll update tomorrow too if you do :) thank you to everybody who's reading and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a phenomenal new year!

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen**

_**Unspoken Things**_

Sirius Black was puzzled. Insanely puzzled. He hadn't been this puzzled since they were trying to work out where exactly Remus went every month before they knew he was a werewolf – and that was way back in his second or third year. And this time, it wasn't Remus who was puzzling him – no more than normal, anyway. Remus had a tendency to confuse people because of the words he used in his speech. However, Sirius was now used to it and could define words such as 'loquacious' and 'garrulous' (words Remus frequently used in his criticisms of Sirius) which was a kind of bonus. But no, Remus was not being the puzzling one. Neither were James and Peter. The object that was making him puzzled was Isabel. Isabel refused to talk to him, no matter what, and he did not have any idea why. Remus, James, Peter and _Lily_ didn't know either. They had spent all week trying to convince Isabel to talk to him, or at least tell them _why_ she wouldn't talk to him – but she repudiated every request and just continued doing whatever she was doing; mainly schoolwork.

So now Sirius was sitting on his bed, trying to think of why Isabel could possibly be so annoyed with him that she wouldn't talk to him anymore. She had been annoyed with him plenty of times in the past, but none of them had caused her not to speak to him.

In first year, Sirius had _accidentally_ gotten mud on Isabel's Holyhead Harpies scarf after he borrowed it (without asking) and took it out into the grounds to keep his neck warm whilst he and his friends had a mud war in this little mud pit they had found behind some trees in the Forbidden Forest. Unfortunately, Sirius had decided to roll around in it, forgetting that he was wearing her scarf which he hadn't asked if he could wear, and got lots of mud on it. And, deciding he had not wanted to face Isabel's wrath, he had put it back in her drawer, where he had found it, still covered in mud. But he would have been better telling her, as she went crazy when she found it besmirched with smelly dirt and whacked Sirius with her copy of _A History of Magic_ repeatedly.

In second year, Sirius had decided to 'clean up' the Gryffindor common room (after he nearly got shoved out of the window by James for being excessively suggestive to Lily and knocked ash from the fire all over the carpet) and ended up _accidentally _setting Isabel's History of Magic essay on fire which she had spent two and a half hours writing. When she had come downstairs, all that was left were the remnants of her introduction. She didn't stop talking to him, per se, but completely ignored his pleas to stop as she chased him round school with her beater's bat.

In third year, Sirius used Alethia to send anonymous love letters to some good-looking Ravenclaw sixth-years – which got Isabel some weird looks as said Ravenclaws clocked Isabel using Alethia too, and thought she was some weird stalker until Isabel walked in on Sirius trying to attach a bundle of love letters to Alethia's leg in the Owlery. Isabel made him go and tell the Ravenclaws it was him and that he stole her owl to send the letters – but unfortunately for Isabel, one of them had decided that she liked Sirius and went on a date with him to Hogsmeade. Unfortunately for Sirius, they bumped into her ex-boyfriend in Hogsmeade, and she decided to 'reconnect' with him and left Sirius in the Three Broomsticks. Isabel decided this embarrassment was punishment enough and still bought it up at every chance possible.

In fourth year, Sirius spilt bright orange pumpkin juice on Isabel's new white dress that Lily had bought her for Christmas. Nobody would explain _why_, or _how_, Sirius had gotten it down the dress and Isabel had a sneaking suspicion that he had been wearing it but her suspicions were unconfirmed. That time, both Isabel and Lily were furious with him and made him run around the lake wearing a dress whilst they conjured up some deck chairs and glasses of orange juice and watched him do it.

In fifth year, Sirius told Isabel that her green t-shirt made her look like a frog; and when she proceeded to change into a yellow t-shirt, he told her that she looked like a banana. Sirius quickly began to grow an uncontrollable beard that lasted for a week and whenever he shaved it, it grew back again three inches longer (so by the end of the week, it was at his ankles).

But he couldn't remember anything he had done to offend her this year! She was slightly ticked off about his numerous snogging sessions with different girls, but he had practically stopped that now he almost had Amanda. Almost.

This thing with Isabel was stressing him out; they had the first Quidditch match of the year the following day, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. Now they wouldn't be able to play their point-scoring game according to who they hit with bludgers. Sirius looked forward to that. How could he work with Isabel if she wasn't talking to him?

"Pads, Quidditch practice," James said, popping his head round the door and carrying his treasured broomstick.

Sirius looked up at him. "You know what will happen. Isabel will ignore me – as she has done for the past week – and it will be a disaster. And tomorrow, the Quidditch game? Isabel went to Hogsmeade with Jonas Carmichael, the Hufflepuff Chaser, so she'll just be making eyes at him all through the game and be ignoring hitting the bludgers."

James raised his eyebrows. "Isabel is loyal to our team and, just as she does with her schoolwork, will work her _arse_ off in that game tomorrow to help us win."

"That's a frequent observation of mine, you know: that girl works herself far too hard," Sirius added.

"Yep, I know!" James nodded sycophantically, "but at least she applies it to everything she does, right? So therefore we will win tomorrow, whether or not Isabel is going out with Jonas. Understand?"

"I suppose. But I just wish she'd talk to me! It's so bloody _infuriating_!" Sirius growled, standing up and attempting to put a jumper on and get his broom out from under his bed at the same time.

"Yes, but just try your hardest. Be nice. Don't do anything to aggravate her further," James advised before leaving the room.

"I haven't done anything to aggravate her!" Sirius yelled after his retreating back.

*

James was reasonably pleased after the Quidditch practice on Friday night – despite the fact she wouldn't talk to him, Isabel was working well with Sirius, though she did glare at him frequently. So the next morning, he was in high spirits as he got Sirius up and out of his bed. Remus and Peter were already up, dressed in their weekend clothes with the addition of red and gold Gryffindor scarves. They didn't play, but were enthusiastic due to their best friends' complete infatuation with the sport – it was hard not to be when you hung out with James and Sirius (and Isabel, come to think of it) all the time.

"GEROFF ME!" Sirius bellowed as James poked him with his broomstick.

"You. Need. To. Get. Up," James yelled in Sirius' ear, and narrowly missed a slap.

"I'll get up when I'm good and ready," Sirius slurred groggily.

James turned to Remus and Peter exasperatedly. "Could you get him up and down to breakfast in the next half an hour? I'm going to go and wake up the rest of the team," James asked, and his two friends nodded as he left the room. He pitied them – making Sirius wake up early (Merlin forbid!) on a Saturday morning was a tedious and often dangerous job.

He wandered up the stairs to the room of the Gryffindor seventh-years to get Max Knightley, the Gryffindor Keeper, up. Luckily, Max was better in the mornings than Sirius and was already dressed and flicking through _Quidditch Through The Ages_, by Kennilworthy Whisp, the most-read book in the Hogwarts library.

"Ready for today, Max?" James asked cheerfully as he entered the room.

"Yep – weather looks okay, too," Max said confidently, glancing out of the window. Indeed, it was a clear day with a little bit of sun beaming down on the Quidditch pitch. Being late October, nearly November, they were used to rubbish weather (in fact, the previous night's practice had been cut short by a thundering rain storm which James had been adamant he wanted them to carry on playing in until Sirius threatened him with his beater's bat) so it was practically a blessing.

"I know – see you in the changing rooms at half nine," James said before rushing towards the fifth-year rooms – Fabian and Gideon Prewett played Chaser with James, and the twins made a good team with him. When James went into their room, they were being whacked repeatedly by their three roommates – Frank Longbottom, Eddie Morgan and Noah Hamilton – but to no avail. They shrugged in defeat at James, who merely whipped out his wand and shouted,

"_LEVICORPUS_!"

Fabian and Gideon were now wide awake, yelling, and being hung upside down to choruses of uproarious laughter from Frank, Eddie and Noah.

"Aw, James! You could have woken us up slightly more POLITELY!" Gideon hollered as he thrashed about, as if to beat off invisible creatures. He looked very comical – so did his twin, who was smiling brightly and folding his arms, which looked very strange due to his state of being upside down.

"Sorry, Gid, see you both in the changing rooms at half nine," James grinned, leaving Frank, Eddie and Noah rolling around on the floor they were laughing so much.

"OI! SAY THE COUNTER-CURSE!" he heard them yell after him – this was followed by what sounded like Noah calling "_Liberacorpus_!" and two thuds; signifying the twins landing on the floor.

The last two players he needed to wake up were Isabel – who was being an early bird at the moment anyway so had probably already been for a run around the grounds and was now undoubtedly showering – and their new Seeker, a little gem of a fourth-year girl named Ally Marshall with bright brown eyes and reddish-blonde hair who was very eager.

Isabel, true to his thoughts, was already up. Lily was sleeping peacefully but Isabel had wet hair that was wildly curly, and was writing a letter.

"Hey Isabel! Ready for the match?" James asked brightly.

"Obviously," she grinned at him, putting her quill down.

"Who are you writing to?" James asked inquisitively.

"My cousin," Isabel answered swiftly.

"Okay – let me guess..." James said. Isabel had told them about all of her cousins many a time, and she had loads – James didn't have any, but Isabel had twelve! "Well I know some of them go to Hogwarts..."

"Hannah, Jade, Jack, Emmeline and Caitlin have graduated and Erienne is in her seventh year, Colin is in his fourth, Will and Oliver are in their fourth. Erienne and Colin are in Ravenclaw and Will and Oliver are Gryffindors," Isabel explained – James found Isabel's large family very complicated – despite the fact it was large, she was an only child.

"But don't you have three more cousins?" James asked, clearly confused.

"Yes – but they live in Italy. My mum's sister, Louise, married an Italian artist whose surname is Rosetti, so they live in Italy – there's Alessandra, she's twelve, Fiorella, she's ten, and Sienna, she's eight. But they go to some Italian magic school, I'm not quite sure what it's called," she continued.

"So who are you writing to, then?" James questioned.

"Alessandra," Isabel replied, "but Fiorella and Sienna always read them too."

"So do you speak Italian, then?" James asked quizzically.

"No..." Isabel said, shaking her head slowly.

"But they live in Italy, how do they understand you?"

"Um, people can speak more than one language, James," Isabel laughed, and James reddened, realising his stupid mistake. "Italian is my cousins and my uncle's first language, but they all speak English too. Auntie Lou speaks Italian too. But rest assured, they can understand my letters written in English," she winked, before signing her name and folding it up and writing, in her usual incredibly neat script, '_Alessandra, Fiorella and Sienna Rosetti_'.

"Oh, right," he grinned. "Anyway, changing rooms at half nine, okay?"

Isabel nodded.

James left the room – deciding not to ask Isabel about the Sirius situation as he might end up having a book thrown at his head or something.

Ally Marshall was so excited, she was already in the common room, smiling widely as James approached her. Ally was likeable – first of all, she didn't fancy Sirius and couldn't stand the two Sirius obsessives (in the form of Aimee Cockles and Lorraine) who she shared a dorm with – and a good laugh. Fabian and Gideon Prewett had kind of taken her under their wing in the last few practices as she was the youngest on the team. James was suspicious that Fabian was interested in Ally's best friend, Jane Goldsmith, who was very pretty and completely immune to Sirius' charm. Jane tended to come down to practices to support Ally – though she had given last night's a miss because of the ominous stormy weather.

"Off to breakfast, Ally?" James grinned.

"Yep – I'm so excited!" she said, and she was practically jumping on the spot.

"Well at least you're awake, unlike some members of the Quidditch team," he said, looking towards the stairs, where Fabian and Gideon were now emerging from, followed by Frank, Eddie and Noah.

"Hey Ally!" Gideon yelled, running towards her in pretend slow motion. Fabian immediately sidled up to Jane, who looked away swiftly, hiding an obvious blush.

"And who's this?" Eddie asked, whilst Noah stared, transfixed, on Ally's titian hair and chocolate eyes.

"Ally Marshall," she grinned, and held out her hand. Before Eddie could even get a look in, Noah shook it, beaming at her (quite scarily, in James' opinion).

"I'm Noah Hamilton," he introduced himself.

"Hi," she said, slightly unnerved by his enthusiasm.

"Move out of the way, Noah!" Eddie said, shoving him along. "I'm Eddie Morgan, and this is Frank Longbottom."

"Pleased to meet you," she smiled, then took Jane's arm. "We're going off to breakfast, if you wanted to come?"

The group of fifth-year boys followed Ally and Jane and left James, who was waiting for Sirius to finally get up.

*

"AND HERE COMES THE HUFFLEPUFF QUIDDITCH TEAM! WHYTE, GRIFFITH, CARMICHAEL, REDMAN, GREEN, SCARLETT AND... _HARPER_!"

James gulped as the names of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team were called out, by the commentator – which turned out to be Noah Hamilton, who was likely to make it funny.

"It'll be fine, James, just like any other Quidditch match," Sirius muttered, and James smiled at him.

"AND HERE COMES THE ONE, THE ONLY, THE ABSOLUTELY BLOODY FANTASTIC –"

"_Mr Hamilton! Please refrain from such LANGUAGE_!" Professor McGonagall barked menacingly, and James laughed as he mounted his broom and flew out into the stadium, closely followed by the other players.

"Sorry, Professor, dreadfully sorry... don't know what came over me – FANTASTIC GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH TEAM! POTTER, PREWETT, PREWETT, KNIGHTLEY, WILLOUGHBY, BLACK AND... _MARSHALL_!" Noah called.

The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws erupted as the players in red and gold flew around the pitch, laughing and smiling. There was nothing like the beginning of a Quidditch game – Isabel was elated, and she wanted more than anything to beat the Hufflepuffs, to prove to her lovely _boyfriend _(yes – boyfriend! Isabel Willoughby had a boyfriend!) that she was a better Quidditch player than he. As the players began to stop flying and waiting for Madame Hooch to release the Quaffle, Isabel caught Jonas' eye and they smiled at each other bashfully.

"Captains, shake hands!" Madame Hooch shouted forcefully – James flew forward towards the Hufflepuff captain, a tall girl with olive skin and chestnut brown hair, called Gabrielle Whyte.

They shook each other's hands without attempting to crush the hand of the other (unlike when James shook hands with the Slytherin captain, he broke his little finger) and Madame Hooch released the Quaffle.

"And the game begins! – Hufflepuff have the same line up as last year, which proved good as they came second, SECOND TO THE BEST TEAM IN THE WHOLE WORLD, GRYF–" Noah began enthusiastically.

"HAMILTON!" McGonagall yelled warningly.

"Gryffindor came first, anyway. No biased comments here..." Noah concluded, and Isabel laughed as she whacked a bludger in the direction of Gabrielle Whyte, who was swooping past, attempting to get the Quaffle off James, who was racing towards the hoops.

"POTTER WON'T BE BEATEN! Gryffindor have added a new player this season – GIVE IT UP FOR THEIR LOVELY SEEKER ALLY MARSHALL!" Noah yelled, and the crowd cheered. Ally blushed as she hovered high above the stands, her alert eyes searching for the Snitch.

"Very attractive girl, very attractive–" Noah continued.

"HAMILTON! I'M WARNING YOU..." McGonagall bellowed.

"Sorry... back to the game... POTTER SCORES FOR GRYFFINDOR! ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT! The score is ten points to Gryffindor!"

Five minutes later, Fabian scored another ten points – and another half an hour later, that had been increased to Gryffindor leading eighty points to zero.

"Well Gryffindor are certainly on top, aren't they? Watch that bludger, Potter! Gryffindor beater Sirius Black whacks the bludger in the direction of the Hufflepuff seeker Rosie Harper... ooh, narrow miss! – And Carmichael of Hufflepuff takes possession of the Quaffle... but not for long! – GRYFFINDOR SCORES AGAIN! NINETY ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

The crowd cheered hysterically as James circled the pitch in a victory fly after he'd scored his sixth goal this Quidditch match.

"Ooh, something strange is going on with the Gryffindor beaters – is that a tactical move? – Willoughby seems to be aiming her bat TOWARDS her fellow beater Black! – Black deflects it towards Hufflepuff Chaser Anneka Griffith, who very nearly misses... ANOTHER GOAL! A HUNDRED ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!" Noah cheered along with the crowd.

Isabel glared murderously at Sirius, who raised his eyebrows at her questioningly, but she shook her head and zoomed off, bat in hand portentously.

"Okay... Hufflepuff Seeker Rosie Harper is trying to find the Snitch... though I suppose that is quite frankly bleeding obvious–" Noah cursed to the amusement of the crowd, and the teams, though not to Professor McGonagall who scowled at him warningly.

"And Willoughby hits the bludger – though this time not in the direction of her teammate Sirius Black, though it was rather amusing... sorry, Professor, I shall not condone threatening behaviour – OH MY IT GOES STRAIGHT FOR HUFFLEPUFF BEATER JOE SCARLETT, WHO IS NEARLY KNOCKED OFF OF HIS BROOM! Excellent shot, that, Isabel, if you don't mind me saying..." Noah said brightly as Joe Scarlett glowered at a smiling Isabel.

"WHAT'S THIS?" Noah suddenly yelled, and the whole crowd looked around, clamouring for a view of what he was trying to point out – that he hadn't named yet...

"WHAT'S THIS – MARSHALL RACES AFTER A FLICKER OF GOLD... sorry, Harper, won't catch her now – Marshall REACHES OUT – MARSHALL'S HAND CLOSES ON THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WIN, THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY TO ZERO! WHAT A MAGNIFICENT CATCH BY A MAGNIFICENT LADY!" Noah called, and, in the peak of the moment, threw his arms around a bewildered Professor McGonagall.

"Looks like Noah's scored," Sirius yelled to James as they all flew towards Ally and enveloped her in an ecstatic group hug.

"PARTY IN THE GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM!" Sirius hollered as they had a Gryffindor pitch invasion and the team carried Ally above their heads (with Noah's help) in the direction of the castle. Remus and Peter ran off in the directions of the kitchen to get some crates of Butterbeer and enough food for a massive party that would last until the early hours of Sunday morning.

*

"So Isabel attempted to hit you with a bludger? Mate, what have you _done_?" James said, slapping his best friend on the back as they both sipped their fifth or sixth bottles of Butterbeer.

"I have no idea," Sirius said, shaking his head dejectedly.

"Maybe if she has a really good time tonight, she'll forget all about it and talk to you," James suggested. Sirius looked at him with wide, surprised eyes.

"You know James, that is quite an intelligent and bloody _brilliant_ idea!" Sirius complimented. "Now, can I borrow your Invisibility Cloak and the map?"

James nodded, and Sirius ran up to their dorm and took the items he had requested. He swiftly navigated his way through the dancing bodies in the common room (his record collection was being used to provide entertainment – though Lily had gone a picked a song of her choice so now "_Twist And Shout_" by the Beatles was playing) and out, and hurried towards the statue of the one-eyed witch to take him to Honeydukes' cellar. He practically ran so he got there in no time, but was panting slightly as he pushed the trapdoor up and jumped into the cellar. He managed to get through the shop without setting any alarms off and skirted across the street to the Three Broomsticks.

Upon entering, he cast James' cloak off and secreted it in a pocket of his jacket and walked up to the bar confidently.

"Sirius Black... what can I do for you?" Rosmerta, the young barmaid, asked, leaning on the bar.

"Well, I was wondering... can I have a glass of Gillywater?" he asked. She raised her perfectly arched eyebrows.

"You came here, by yourself, when you're not allowed, to buy a _Gillywater_?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Yep," Sirius grinned charmingly.

"Okay – but I'll have to go to the cellar and get it, there's none in the bar," she said huffily, and, when she had gone, Sirius made sure nobody was watching, and threw the cloak back over himself and crawled behind the bar – to grab a whole crate of bottles of Firewhisky, containing thirty bottles.

When Rosmerta returned, with his Gillywater, he had the crate hidden on his lap, covered by the cloak. He politely sipped it, making small talk, and when he had finished, he left, carrying the Firewhisky carefully out of the pub. As soon as he was outside, he put the cloak on and raced back down the stairs into Honeydukes' cellar and back to Hogwarts.

"I HAVE FIREWHISKY!" he yelled, setting the crate down on the table in front of the fire, and putting the cloak and map back in his pocket.

"Ooh, can I have one?" Aimee Cockles asked, sidling up to Sirius flirtatiously.

"Er, no. Bye!" Sirius said rudely as he wandered over to James, Lily, Remus and Peter; James and Lily were locked in a passionate embrace by the record player (kissing rhythmically to "_Somebody To Love_", by Queen – which Sirius felt was apt for that moment), and Remus and Peter were conversing with the Prewett twins, Ally, Noah, Jane, Eddy and Frank. Noah was trying desperately to chat up Ally, who kept laughing and having none of it.

"Hey Pads!" Peter said happily. "James said you'd gone to get some Firewhisky!"

"Firewhisky? Who wants one?" Gideon asked, his eyes lighting up as if all his Christmases had come at once. Fabian, Eddy, Frank and Noah immediately agreed and Ally shook her head.

"You can share mine, if you like," Noah offered, and Sirius chuckled.

Ally looked at him.

"He's besotted with you! Go out with him, for Merlin's sake! I know you think he's cute!" Sirius urged her, and she turned a brilliant shade of magenta.

"Thanks for the match-making, Sirius," Noah gritted his teeth, obviously thinking his chances were ruined – and then decided the voice these thoughts.

"Actually, he hasn't ruined your chances," Ally protested.

"Really?" Noah said, his eyebrows raised in shock.

"No. Now do you want to dance?" Ally asked, holding out her hand for him to take – which he did, instantly, and they went off together.

Turning to Remus and Peter, he asked, "Seen Isabel?"

"No. She shot you a really dirty look when you bought in the Firewhisky and left," Remus supplied.

"Great. You know what? I'm going to find Amanda," Sirius decided spontaneously.

"You do that," Remus said encouragingly, and, for the second time that night, Sirius left the room to go and find Amanda.

He wandered the corridors in the rough direction of the Hufflepuff common room – but decided to check the classrooms as he passed, as he knew sometimes that he and the Marauders sat in there in the evenings (without permission, of course).

As he neared the Hufflepuff common room, he saw a classroom door slightly ajar and decided to go and investigate.

"Oh, bloody hell, I'm so sorry!" Sirius apologised as he clocked a couple, locked in a passionate embrace that was obviously meant for nobody to see, kissing fiercely, sitting on one of the desks. The couple sprang apart, and looked at him.

"_Isabel_?" he asked – the girl with the curly brown hair who had been kissing the boy (who appeared to be a very sheepish looking Jonas) had turned out to be his best friend – well, she was his best friend but she wasn't speaking to him – which shocked him completely. Since when was Isabel someone to kiss a boy in abandoned classrooms?

"Yes?" she said rudely.

"What in the name of Merlin's star-spangled tights are you doing?" Sirius asked.

"It's none of your business what I was doing because before you barged in, this was a private classroom!" she said defiantly.

"Since when did you kiss in classrooms?" Sirius said sceptically.

"Oh yes, Sirius, because you have me all mapped out, don't you? And you're the perfectly innocent one who's NEVER had a girlfriend or kissed anybody in a classroom or a broom cupboard, aren't you?" she said, her words laced with sarcasm and malice.

"That's not fair, everybody knows I'm like that," Sirius said crossly.

"So? I'm not allowed to kiss my _boyfriend_, now? Nobody but Sirius Black is allowed to kiss people?" Isabel growled.

"Stop blowing this all out of proportion!" Sirius cried.

"Blowing it all out of proportion? Merlin, you're such a bloody drama queen! You're the one blowing it all out of proportion – I'm sixteen, Sirius, I'm allowed to kiss my boyfriend and you can't lecture me about anything as your first kiss took place, in what? Probably the first day of first year?" she cackled madly. "And what, I bet you lost your virginity the next day! You're such a bloody slut, and you're a bloke!"

"Now you're being unfair. Don't call me a slut. I've never slept with anybody, okay? I'm a virgin – just because I like kissing girls doesn't mean I've slept with them too! Is this what you think of the person you're supposedly closest too, perhaps even before Lily? Merlin, Isabel, I don't even know what I did to upset you! You haven't the decency or the courtesy to tell _me_, or even our friends who could report back to me, what I've done to annoy you! So go tart about with your bloody boyfriend, but don't be horrible to me while you're at it," Sirius concluded, speaking calmly but his eyes alive with aggravation and anger.

"Come on Jonas, we're going," Isabel said after a brief pause, and dragging a sorry-looking Jonas along with her, left the classroom.

_

* * *

_

Sorry about the low that ended on, but I kind of hand to put this in... please review, firstly because it is CHRISTMAS in 5 hours and 20 minutes and, secondly, to get the next chapter which involves more Sirius/Amanda! Happy Holidays!

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	14. Can't Touch This

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Merry Christmas (for yesterday, but it's still Christmas!)! Thank you to Stephie Cat-Kat, Ivy G., NovemberDreamer, wiatch, ClaireMarieCullen, vanillabean18, Flicka200, Rhiannon da crazygirl, vampire-luver101, Freya-Rhianna, sarlovesoccer and LaughingAngelsGibberish for your reviews; thank you to NovemberDreamer for adding my story to your favourites and thank you to NovemberDreamer, kraenky and for adding my story to your alert subscriptions! I hope you like this chapter, please review!

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

_**Can't Touch This**_

Isabel was angry. There was no way she was talking to Sirius now, after he questioned what she was doing with Jonas. It's not like it was anything more serious than a kiss! Why was he so bloody bothered?

Though she was so angry, she couldn't help the pangs of guilt she got when she remembered the things she had said to him. She winced, and thought that it was quite unfair for her to say stuff like that to the person who was supposedly her best friend. And she was angry at him for things he had said to a person who didn't technically exist. Why was she bothered? She was going out with Jonas, so it didn't matter. He thought she was pretty. He didn't think kissing her felt incestuous (she hoped).

Every time she thought she had decided to apologise and make up with Sirius, her anger flared up again as she remembered the things he said, and the way he was so unreasonable when he found her and Jonas.

"He is a stupid prat," Isabel hissed to herself.

"Sorry, Miss Willoughby, what was that?" Professor Griffin asked. He was teaching the class about non-verbal spells and it wasn't the easiest thing to master. So far Isabel had accidentally set Lily's hair on fire (but it was put out quickly and it didn't look much different – except the ends were slightly singed...) and turned the parchment in front of her into a chicken. Nobody else was having much luck either.

"Nothing, Professor, sorry," she apologised profusely – instead of taking in what he was saying (normally she spent all of the time in class taking extensive notes of everything that was said) she was arguing with herself in her mind about whether to make up with Sirius or not. The resounding answer, though admittedly stubborn and obstinate, was no.

"It's quite alright, Miss Willoughby, though don't do it again," he warned. "Now, non-verbal spells are definitely advantageous in situations such as duelling. Why would that be?"

Determined to redeem herself, Isabel's hand shot up in the air.

"Yes, Miss Willoughby?"

"The opposition cannot tell what spell you are using, and whether you are using one at all, so can cause a state of confusion and surprise, giving you the advantage," Isabel recited.

"Excellent, five points to Gryffindor. Couldn't have put it better myself," Professor Griffin smiled. "So – split up into pairs, and practice casting _simple _spells non-verbally and see if you can attempt to block them or guess what they are."

Quickly, the class split into pairs. Isabel was too slow to go with Lily – whose arm was immediately grasped by a cheekily grinning James – so paired up with Remus. Jonas didn't take Defence Against the Dark Arts, for some reason, so she hadn't the option of partnering with him. Remus shot an apologetic look at Sirius, who was left with Peter.

After a few tries, Isabel stamped her foot in exasperation – something, by the look on his face, Remus wanted to do too but was too controlled. "This is so frustrating!" she hissed. "I can't get any of my spells to work."

"Me either," Remus agreed, sitting down on the desk behind him. Isabel sat down beside him, twirling her wand in her fingers agitatedly.

Isabel looked at Sirius – he was laughing and joking with Peter, who was concentrating so hard his face was purple. Merlin, Sirius was annoying. Couldn't he take anything seriously? Schoolwork was not a joke.

Isabel didn't know why she did it, but first she was staring at him, and then, as quick as a flash of rogue lightening, she thought of it – "_Levicorpus_!"

And, a nanosecond later, Sirius was upside down in the air.

"Who did that?" Sirius asked, flapping his arms widely giving him the appearance of a baby bird who didn't know how to fly. Isabel's eyes widened in shock – did she do that? Non-verbally?

"Um, Isabel? You look kind of shocked..." Remus asked.

"I think I just did that!" Isabel confided. Remus laughed loudly.

"Excellent spell, brilliant execution," he commented good-naturedly as Professor Griffin said the counter-curse and Sirius was back on the ground.

"Thanks," Isabel said bashfully. "I didn't mean too – he's just made me so angry and I couldn't help it! Merlin I'm like a spell-casting machine! Oh dear Merlin..." she said, whacking her head repeatedly off the table.

"Okay, Isabel, _stop_. You don't want to injure yourself, and your brain, now, do you?" he said, patting her on the back soothingly. "Why exactly are you mad at Sirius?"

"Did he not tell you about the events of Saturday night?" Isabel asked in surprise – Sirius would usually divulge everything to his fellow Marauders; well, always to James, most of the time to Remus as he was wise and would give a good perspective on things, and some of the time to Peter as he never really had anything wise to say about anything, except perhaps food.

Remus shook his head. "All I know is that he went off to find Amanda, and then he stormed back into the common room about an hour later and straight up to his dorm without drinking any more Firewhisky."

"Well... he kind of caught me kissing Jonas in an empty classroom," Isabel admitted, her face reddening. "And we sort of argued about... well, primarily what I was doing. He asked me what on earth I was doing and I told him it was none of his business and it kind of... progressed from there. Eventually I kind of, erm..."

"Go on," Remus prompted kindly.

"I kind of accused him of being a slut and of not being a virgin," Isabel cringed, "it was only because he was being really unreasonable and everything and I just can't believe I said it! And then he said I didn't have the decency to tell him why I wasn't talking to him in the first place and then proceeded to tell me to go and tart about with my boyfriend. I don't know why he was so bloody bothered!"

"Well... okay. Firstly, why won't you tell him why you aren't talking to him?" Remus asked calmly.

"I can't do that," Isabel said quickly. "I can't tell anybody! It's stupid but it means a lot to me and I can't explain it."

"Can't you just forgive him? It's kind of annoying to hear him go, 'Oh my Merlin, Isabel is still not talking to me! I wish she'd tell me what the bloody problem is!'" Remus said, doing a perfectly accurate imitation of Sirius' low, sexy voice.

Isabel smiled slightly. "I'll sort it out with him eventually, okay? Just... not now."

"I'll hold you to that," Remus grinned as they copied down the notes about non-verbal spells onto parchment.

*

Isabel was lying in bed – pretending to be ill and having a headache. In reality, she was perfectly fine. More than fine. But it suited her purpose to be ill – she had a date with Jonas. It wasn't that she wanted to miss it, because she didn't, but she had to because she hadn't really done much masquerading as Amanda recently and she needed Sirius to be head over heels for her! So she had mussed up her hair, put on a little bit of Lily's foundation (which was much paler than her own skin tone) and smudged a little mascara to give her bags under her eyes.

"Are you sure you can't make the date?" Lily asked her – Isabel had requested that she go and find Jonas and give him the note she had written for him to apologise for the fact she wasn't able to go on their date.

"No," Isabel said, feigning a sick voice, "I feel awful."

"Okay, then, I'll go apologise for you," she agreed and left Isabel to it. But, about three seconds later – Isabel counted – Lily's head popped back around the door. "Izzy, I'm really sorry, but I'm going out with James tonight – I'll check on you before I go to bed, but that'll be really late. Is there anything you'd like before I go?"

Isabel was praising Merlin internally when Lily said this as it would mean she wouldn't get suspicious when she came into their room and she wasn't there.

"It's fine, Lils, have fun," she smiled weakly, and, as soon as she was definitely sure that Lily _had _gone, she jumped out of bed, wiped the makeup off that she had applied to make her look sick, and filled a goblet with the pearlescent lilac potion, which she secreted in her jacket carefully.

She ran down the stairs, and through the common room – luckily the Marauders were nowhere to be seen – and in the direction of the girls' bathroom on the fourth floor. She was meeting Sirius around there (not by the toilets of course, as that would be _completely _unromantic) so it meant she'd get the best use of the hour the potion gave would give her once drunk. In the bathroom, she locked herself in a cubicle and drank the potion quickly. The familiar sensation of her body changing overtook her and soon she was the beautiful, bodacious Amanda.

She smiled at herself in the bathroom mirror before running out, and to the place where she was scheduled to meet Sirius – by a large window looking out onto the Quidditch pitch. The stars were twinkling, and she gazed out into the sky as she waited – though not very long.

"Hey beautiful," Sirius said as he walked up the corridor – without his usual cocky swagger. This was something Isabel had noticed – he treated her, as Amanda, like she was the only girl in the world, like she was the most special thing ever. He gave her his undivided attention – and Isabel had noticed that, minus the occasional kissing and the greeting of "Hey beautiful" and the romantic locations, that was exactly how he treated her, Isabel.

"Hi," she whispered, and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Surprisingly – he blushed.

"Would you like to go for a drink in Hogsmeade?" Sirius asked. Amanda's eyes lit up – but then she remembered her time restriction of an hour, which they were already five minutes into.

"Yes please – but I have to be back in fifty minutes," she said regretfully.

"That's fine – I know _plenty _of shortcuts," he grinned, taking her hand gently.

As Sirius took her through mazes of passageways, behind tapestries, statues and portraits, Isabel wondered why, really, she had cancelled her date – a coveted date that she had wanted since bumping into him on that jog – with Jonas to pretend to be a girl to make Sirius fall in love. It seemed stupid. It seemed that Isabel was losing all her moral principles this year – firstly, not to mess with people's feelings as it only leads to hurt and anger. Wasn't she just messing with Sirius' heart doing this – and she was supposed to be his best friend. In reality, she wasn't talking to him because of something he said to her when she was pretending to be Amanda. In reality, it was all too petty. But Isabel couldn't bring herself to stop. She didn't know why, but there was something stopping her from telling the truth and just leaving it, something magnetic that drew her towards the Polyjuice potion. Secondly, wasn't this classed as cheating on Jonas? That was another moral principle Isabel was seeming to go against. Though she comforted herself with the thought that technically, it wasn't, as she was being two people. She knew what Lily would say if she told her – that she had some kind of crazy split-personality disorder – but she wasn't crazy. Or a victim of a split-personality disorder. She was a very smart, independent, though sometimes thoroughly misguided, young woman.

She was worried, though. Worried how everything would turn out. What if Sirius got too, pardon the pun, _serious _about Amanda? At some point, she would have to confess, it couldn't be avoided. Alternatively she could leave the country. But Isabel wasn't put in Gryffindor for nothing – she could deal with truth-telling, mischief-making, studying, friendship problems and being hurt.

What she didn't realise was, by doing this, she wasn't only hurting Sirius, but badly bruising her own heart in the process.

_

* * *

_

I hope you don't hate Isabel too much in this chapter - I know she is basically cheating on Jonas but she doesn't quite see it that way yet as she has conflicted feelings and doesn't understand why she feels so compelled to spend time with Sirius as Amanda but also to spend time with Jonas. She is rather confused... Please review! If I get enough reviews I'll post again tonight! Thanks for reading, I hope you have a brilliant holiday :)

_Ooh, also, before I forget, please check out my new story _**The Complete Misadventures of the Marauders **-_ it's actually entitled_ **The Complete Misadventures of Sirius Black and James Potter **_but the title was too long and otherwise it would have been called "The Complete Misadventures of Sirius Black and Jam" ;) please drop a review and tell me what you think!_

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	15. Significant Interruptions

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Hi, sorry I didn't update earlier today as I have been out all day visiting family. I'm so glad that in people's reviews they have said they DON'T hate Isabel... she is conflicted in her feelings :) and I was really flattered that somebody said that somebody said having faults meant that she wasn't a Mary Sue, which has made me VERY pleased! Thank you to EllieBaby, LegoLassss, Ash Blue, vampire-luver101, wiatch, Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl (thanks for the multiple reviews), , ClaireMarieCullen, kakashi92, books101, Sam-EvansBlue, siriusfanno1, spannieren, Lisbry and Freya-Rhianna for reviewing; thank you to dumbroonet621, kakashi92, spannieren, xolunaxx, 552678, Ash Blue and LegoLassss for adding my story to your alert subscriptions and thank you to books101, Lacers, SeraphielSong, xolunaxx and Ash Blue for adding my story to your favourites!

Please could you check out my profile because I'm looking for this story I read and it's described on there - but the problem is I read it in the summer before I had a profile and although I reviewed it would have been anonymously so if anyone has any idea what it is called please tell me! Thanks - on with the chapter :)

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen**

_**Significant Interruptions**_

Lily had just handed Jonas the note from Isabel saying that she couldn't make it to their date – he seemed pretty upset, Lily observed. She was ecstatic that her best friend, so long devoid of any romance and a complete cynic (though maybe that had something to do with the fact that said best friend was extremely close to the infamous Sirius Black, whose reputation as a charming womaniser extended, not only to the whole school, but to Hogsmeade and King's Cross station also – the events of Sirius trying to chat up the girl at the sandwich stand on September 1st and trying to get free drinks from Madame Rosmerta in the Three Broomsticks by flirting bore testimony to that), had found somebody to make her happy.

Lily herself was head over heels for James. He was amazing – spontaneous, intelligent, gorgeous and utterly enchanting. Lily had never thought herself in love before – she had briefly dated Amos Diggory in fifth year and Michael Pritchard in fourth – but she felt that she loved James dearly. Although it sounded ridiculously corny, she felt that it was like they were pieces of a jigsaw and that they slotted together perfectly.

In other words, their relationship was one that would last for a long time – her visceral instincts told her that. And now the note was delivered – and she had spent a brief moment telling Jonas that Isabel was genuinely upset she would have to miss their date – she could go and meet James. He had told her to meet him in the Entrance Hall – and seeing as it was nearly past curfew, she was going to wait behind one of the pillars, which would have hidden her from the bad-tempered Argus Filch, or the Head Boy and Girl who would be patrolling (Lily and Remus' prefect patrol was the following day).

It turned out James was already there, and by the look of it, was watching his reflection in a tarnished mirror beside an ugly portrait of a fat, warty witch cooking some kind of stew which looked to contain fingernails. Lily smiled as she approached him, but stopped, to see exactly what he was doing – pulling faces in the mirror. First he held the corners of his mouth wide and made his eyes expand to about three times their normal size and roll them weirdly. Then, he pouted his lips like a fish and sucked in his cheeks so he looked like a the son of a supermodel and a goldfish.

"Attractive," Lily laughed – James practically jumped out of his skin when he heard her speak.

"Oh, hi, Lil, um, sorry, I was just..." James stuttered.

"Pulling faces in the mirror?" Lily provided, still chuckling.

James grinned. "Yeah. Such a mature young man, aren't I?"

"Oh, most definitely. Where are we off to tonight, then, my lovely handsome young man?" Lily asked, batting her eyelashes seductively.

"'_Handsome young man'_? Is that my new pet name?" James asked excitedly.

"If you like," Lily smiled. "Now, where are we off to?"

"A surprise, little miss Lily," James grinned enigmatically. "Follow me out of the doors into the grounds..."

Lily resisted the urge to tell him that it was against the school rules to go outside at this time of night (force of habit), and followed him out into the cold night air.

"James – I hate to ruin the romantic moment, but it's bloody freezing!" Lily complained.

"Not where we're going, it's not," James said, leading Lily past the Herbology Greenhouses and in the direction of the Quidditch pitch.

"James – we're not playing Quidditch. In the dark," Lily stated, plain and simply. There was no way he was getting her on a broom. That would happen only when pigs flew, to employ the popular Muggle phrase. Unfortunately, when Muggle phrases are adopted in the magical world, they don't quite work the same.

"I'll teach you to fly properly, one day, Lil," James promised.

"No you won't. I'll only get on a broom on the day when pigs fly," Lily said stubbornly, as he hugged her tightly.

"I can make that happen, you know," he whispered, causing her to laugh. Certainly, Muggle phrases never work as well in the magical world.

"Okay... the day when tigers sprout wings," she said, off the top of her head. This time it was James' turn to laugh.

"You know Hagrid would probably do that? Cross-breed a tiger with a hippogriff, or something? Or perhaps a thestral..." he said thoughtfully.

"Okay, let's just say you are not getting me on a broom and that is final!" she chortled. "Now, why are we on the Quidditch pitch?"

"It's a secret..." he said.

"Please enlighten me," she begged.

"I will, in a minute, but we have to go into the stands," he told Lily. Lily was actually finding it difficult to navigate herself, so stayed close to James' side – it was pitch black, and not much moonlight to go by. Though once her eyes adjusted to the sudden blackness, it looked as if there was something on the ground – but she couldn't make out what they were, properly.

Once they were up in the stands, James caressed her cheek and kissed her. They stayed, wrapped in a warm, passionate embrace, for quite some time, until they broke apart.

"Lily, I have something I want to tell you. But I didn't want to do it in the ordinary way – as you probably know – so I did it this way, my way," James said. Lily thought he was speaking practically in riddles, but when he pointed his wand to the pitch below, and yelled, "_Incendio_!", a ball of fire flew down to what appeared to be like little stones set out in an intricate pattern on the pitch. But the ball of fire dispersed, and seemed to be lighting the stones – which turned out to be candles.

"What are–" Lily asked, but was quickly silenced by James, who gestured for her to watch.

More and more of the candles were rapidly being lit as the flames passed on, and soon all of them were, and Lily could see the pattern properly.

The lit candles spelt out the words, '_I love you Lily_.'

"Oh my..." Lily breathed, more like a natural reaction that anything, but then she turned to James, and hugged him tightly. "I love you, James, more than words can say."

They stayed like that for hours, hugging each other, watching the candles blow out one by one in the midnight breeze.

*

James had decided to be helpful. More than helpful, he had decided to aid Lily in completing her Transfiguration homework. Not that she wasn't _more_ than capable of doing it herself, because Lily most definitely was, but it gave them a viable excuse to spend more time together. James would be quizzed by the Marauders – who thought that Lily was "struggling with turning a beaver into a book" and needed James as he was the best at Transfiguration, bar Isabel. Lily would be quizzed by Isabel – who, as previously mention, excelled in Transfiguration (as well as every other subject available to wizard-kind) – but her excuse, as rubbish as it was, was that James' dad was an expert on the subject so would be more than enough help. This left Isabel slightly confused (which hardly ever happened), as she thought James' dad worked at the Ministry of Magic – a job that had nothing to do with turning beavers into books. She reckoned there was some kind of ulterior motive, though, so nodded and smiled at Lily when she provided her excuse.

So James plonked himself down opposite Lily on a table squeezed between some towering bookshelves at the back of the library – oozing undisturbed privacy.

"You know, you look beautiful even when you're chewing the end of your quill?" James grinned audaciously.

Lily looked up and coloured.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you blush," James said, grinning all the while.

"Doesn't matter. You can make me blush all you like. So... I'm about a hundred words away from completing this thing about the beaver book spell whatsit," Lily told him.

"'_The beaver book spell whatsit_'? Lily, my dear, have you lost all sense of articulation and good grammar?" James mock-groaned. "It is the transfiguration spell turning a beaver into a book!"

"Thank you, 'Mr Completely Articulate'!" Lily laughed, writing the last few words.

"Are you done yet?" James asked impatiently.

"Nearly," Lily said, chewing the end of her quill once more, hoping it would give her added inspiration for what to write as her concluding sentence.

James rolled his eyes. About two seconds later, he asked, "Are you done now?"

"No," Lily replied monotonously.

"How about... now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"Um... _now_?"

"No. No. No."

"How abou–"

"James, be quiet."

"Why?"

"Because I'm using all my energy to tell you that I'm not finished when I could be using it to finish the essay therefore we can actually have some fun," Lily said, her eyes not lifting up from the parchment she was now scanning her eyes down – chewing her quill once more.

"Well that most definitely makes absolutely loads of sense," James replied, and started attempting to read Lily's uncompleted essay upside down – without much luck. Though certainly adept at many skills, he lacked the ability to read upside down.

"I am nearly done," she said after a couple of minutes, and James' eyes lit up in excitement.

"Really? Oh really, Lil, really?" James said, as if his birthday had come four months early.

"Calm down, handsome young man," she said, biting her lip.

"I really like my new nickname. How about I give you a really good one, better than 'Little Miss Lily'? What about... 'The Sexiest Girl in the World'?" James suggested.

"Hmmn... perhaps too provocative," Lily laughed.

"Okay, bad idea. Perhaps... 'The Girlfriend of the Sexiest Man in the World'?" James offered – Lily smiled and hit his arm playfully.

"Little bit arrogant, okay... we don't want the whole world knowing how sexy I am... what about... I cannot think..." James said, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration.

"Not really much of a change, there, is it?"

Both Lily and James looked up to see a group of fifth-year boys grinning at them inanely. The flame-haired twins and their three friends.

"Well, in that way, I'm exactly like you, aren't I, Fabian?" James said playfully. Fabian grinned.

"Yes, but I devote all of my thoughts to pranking. Don't you think the Marauders are kind of getting a little... hung up on girls?" Fabian suggested.

Lily blushed.

"To be fair, Fab, little ol' Jamesy here has _always _been crazy about Lily and has devoted a lot of his thinking time to trying to conjure up ways to make her like him," Gideon said.

Lily blushed once more. James just chuckled.

"So what's new with you lot? Any luck with Jane, Fabian?" James asked.

Fabian gasped in mock shock. "Whatever could you mean, James?"

"I saw you on the morning of the Quidditch match... and you, Noah! Managed to convince Ally yet?" James asked, referring to the Gryffindor team's star seeker, Ally Marshall, the titian-haired girl Noah seemed to nurse a quite obvious infatuation for.

"Early days, yet, mate, early days..." Noah said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Well, children, be careful. Be safe," James smiled, "now buzz off. Me and my petal have some stuff to attend to."

The lads grinned and left. James turned to Lily – "I think that's the best pet name I've come up with so far! My petal! Do you like it?"

"I love it James, and I'm finished," Lily smiled, and James did a victory dance (which required much skill, seeing as he was sitting in a chair and attempting to moonwalk whilst sitting down).

"Now let's get busy," James said, leaning in to kiss Lily, who happily obliged. She was, after all, a very polite girl and if someone wants to kiss you, you obviously kiss them right back (well, only if they are gorgeous, messy-black-haired, hazel-eyed, bespectacled boys who go by the name James Potter)!

_Tap. Tap._

"James, what's that noise?" Lily asked, pulling away from him. She looked around inquisitively.

"I don't know Lily, but let's just continue..." James grinned, waggling his eyebrows. Yet again, for reasons previously mentioned, Lily obliged.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

"James! I can't concentrate with that noise, it's so distracting!" Lily complained.

"Lil, you don't need to concentrate! You put your lips against mine... perhaps open your mouth..." James instructed, and she giggled. Just as they were about to recommence kissing, the tapping noise sounded again.

"Oh Merlin! Where is that sound coming from?" Lily said exasperatedly.

James was now engaged with the idea that they wouldn't be able to continue properly without interruptions unless they found the source of the noise.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

"It sounds like glass being tapped," James assessed. They both looked up at the window – and saw Isabel's owl tapping on the window.

"Oh my Merlin! It's practically snowing outside! Quick, James, open the window! Poor, poor Alethia!" Lily said as James let Isabel's owl inside.

Alethia perched herself on the table, and had a large envelope with Lily's name on it.

"Why is Isabel's owl bringing post to you?" James asked in confusion.

"I borrowed her to write to my parents," Lily said dismissively as she untied the letter from Alethia's leg.

"Ah, so it's from your parents!" James deduced, and Lily shushed him as she read it.

_Dear Lily,_

_I'm glad (it's Mum – I'm writing this letter whilst your Dad cleans our car) that you are settling well into the year. You're a very bright girl therefore should be fine with all the extra work. We're extremely proud of you, Lily, my dear. But besides this – we have some news that might not please you very much but pleases Petunia dearly._

_Petunia is engaged to her boyfriend, Vernon Dursley! She is over the moon, and they have fixed a wedding date for next summer. We did try and ask her whether you could be a bridesmaid _("Fat chance! Like I'd want to be a bridesmaid for that horse face!") _but she refused in a very unkind way – her bridesmaids are going to be her two college friends _("Wow! Two friends! That's the highest amount of friends she's ever had.") _Lynda and Anne, plus Lynda's little sister Elizabeth – who is your age dear, and very nice – too. We did manage to get you invited to the wedding – and you can bring a friend if you like, perhaps Isabel or that lovely boy James you keep going on about; if he's your boyfriend we'd like to meet him. Anyway, Petunia also agreed to letting your friends (Isabel, Sirius, Remus, Peter and James) come to the evening do. _

_But to celebrate their engagement, we are having a party at our house on Boxing Day. We thought you'd like to invite your friends to come, and if they like they can stay over as Petunia has now moved into Vernon's house so there is her room plus the spare room and your own room, which you could share with somebody else. It's quite dressy, but I'm sure that you and your friends will look charming. The owl you sent the letter by was lovely, as well, it's Isabel's owl, isn't it? And don't forget to extend an invitation for her to stay with us in the summer!_

_Please reply quickly to tell us if your friends would like to come._

_We miss you lots, Lily, and can't wait to see you._

_Love you lots and lots,_

_Mum_

"Petunia's _getting married_?" Lily practically screeched. "To that _walrus_?"

She passed James the letter to read. His mouth formed an 'O' as he read the contents.

"Please, James, would you come to the wedding with me? And the engagement party? Pretty please with a chocolate gateau on top?" Lily begged, batting her eyelashes.

"You don't even need to ask, Lil," he said, kissing her cheek.

_

* * *

_

That was a lot of James/Lily but don't worry, the next chapter is verrrrrrryyyyyyy long and involves much discovery for all of the group! Please review and thanks for reading, have a great holiday and a happy new year,

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	16. Intoxicated Confessions

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Wow, thanks for the amazing response to the last two chapters! Thank you to suni-dlight, Stephie Cat-Kat, sarlovesoccer, .limits111, vanillabean18, wiatch, Sam-EvansBlue and ClaireMarieCullen for reviewing - this chapter is a real biggun so I hope you enjoy it, please leave a review afterwards!

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen**

_**Intoxicated Confessions**_

In a quiet, sleepy lane of Spinner's End – the beautiful, country cottage side of the village, not the dilapidated houses down by the river – there was suddenly the sound of two cracks. It was the sort of sound to send shivers up your spine, especially in the dark, snowy night. And, along with the cracking sound, six people suddenly appeared. They seemed to have linked arms in two groups of three. One of them seemed to be a tall man with messy black hair streaked with silver grey, wearing a very smart Muggle suit in a dark navy blue colour – on either side of him were two boys, both extremely tall (exceeding the middle-aged man by a couple of inches at least) and both wearing suits. One was the spitting image of the middle-aged man, wearing a grey suit with a black tie and white shirt, glasses and a gorgeous boyish grin. The other, tall, lazily handsome with shoulder-length dark curly hair was wearing a black suit with a red tie. He exchanged a grin with the other boy whilst the middle-aged man checked the watch in his pocket. The other three had a middle-aged woman in the middle, with long auburn hair and sparkling hazel eyes. She was flanked by a tall, thin boy with sandy hair and a girl with curly brown hair in a periwinkle blue shift dress which complimented her sapphire eyes stunningly.

"Can we go in? Please? I want to meet the _walrus_!" James said dramatically, loosening his father's grip on his arm.

"James, don't be rude," his mother reprimanded him as she let go of Remus and Isabel. "It was very kind of Lily's sister and her fiancé to invite you to their engagement party."

"Um, her parents had to beg them to allow _Lily _to come. Doesn't sound very warm-hearted to me," James muttered.

"Thank you for apparating with us," Isabel said to Mr and Mrs Potter.

"It's fine, dear – it'll be so much easier when you all have you apparition licenses, but for now, side-along apparition is fine," Mrs Potter smiled at her.

"You can go now, Mum, Dad," James said – he had a sneaking feeling they were going to try and get a glimpse of Lily, as they had never met her.

"We need to make sure you get in and give Lily's sister the bottle of wine we bought her!" Mrs Potter reminded him. James rolled his eyes (a trait he seemed to have gotten from Lily) – sparkling hazel, mirroring his mother's eyes.

"Do not embarrass me," James hissed warningly, causing Sirius to laugh heartily. James glanced at him. "Or Sirius, seeing as he is practically your second son."

Mr Potter patted the backs of his son and then his surrogate second son, grinning impishly. "Would I ever?" he said, winking at his wife.

Remus and Isabel laughed.

"Fine, let's go, but if there is the slightest mention of anything which could embarrass me or my liege Sirius here–" James warned, but was interrupted by Isabel.

"Did you just call Sirius 'my liege'?" she asked.

"Of course. New nickname," James answered swiftly as if it was normal to call your best friend 'my liege'.

"You are actually crackers, if you don't mind me saying," Isabel assessed, causing Mr and Mrs Potter to burst out laughing.

"No, I don't mind. You should hear some of the nicknames Sirius came up with for me in the past. They are much worse than 'Prongs', 'Jamesy' or 'Prongsy', I tell you. But they are not to be repeated in front of the parents as they might have heart palpitations," James added, whispering.

"Trust Sirius," Isabel grinned.

"Are we going to go in, then?" Sirius questioned, "seeing as we have been standing outside for about fifteen minutes."

James suddenly panicked, and turned to look at his friends and parents. "Oh Merlin, do I look okay? Presentable? Smart? Neat?"

"You look great, Jamesy, calm down," Sirius said reassuringly. Then James turned to Isabel.

"Will Lily think that I look drop dead gorgeous?"

Everybody burst out laughing at this, and the only thing stopping them from rolling around on the floor roaring with laughter was the two inches of fluffy white snow coating it.

"I'm sure she will, James," Isabel said, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Good. Let's go," James concluded and they walked forward to the door of Lily's house, and Mr Potter knocked on it.

It was opened practically immediately – shocking the people on the doorstep a bit. Standing there was a woman that looked very like Lily, except perhaps thirty years older. She had the same flaming red hair as her daughter, but, like Mr Potter's, was streaked with silver grey. Unlike Lily's, it was very curly, and she had blue eyes which sparkled, but not as much as Lily's emerald eyes.

"Hello," she breathed, as if she was rushed off her feet. James peered behind her shoulder, and saw that there were plenty of guests milling around inside, wearing suits and cocktail dresses.

"Hi, I'm James' father, my wife and I bought James, Isabel, Sirius and Remus for the engagement party. Please offer my congratulations to your daughter," Mr Potter said charmingly.

Mrs Evans smiled warmly. "Thank you very much – come in, come in! Hello Isabel, how are you? Just put your coats down there, I'll go and get Lily, and Petunia of course, to thank you for coming!"

Mrs Evans rushed off as quickly as she had appeared in search of her two daughters.

A few moments later, Lily appeared, and in James' opinion, looking like an angel. She wasn't wearing white – she was in emerald green – but she looked amazing. She was wearing a green satin strapless dress with silver strappy high-heeled shoes and a simple silver bracelet glittering at her wrist. Her auburn hair was tied in a loose bun, with a few tendrils left down, framing her face.

"James!" she squealed excitedly, and threw her arms around him, and kissed his cheek.

"Hi Lily," he grinned sheepishly, seeing his parents look at each other in amusement out the corner of his eye.

"I'm so glad you came! The only person of our age is Petunia's friend's sister, the bridesmaid, Elizabeth, and I've never met such a pompous pickle in my whole entire life!" Lily gasped as she hugged Isabel, Sirius and Remus in turn.

"Pompous pickle?" Sirius chuckled, eyebrows raised. Lily shrugged.

"I could name her some other things, but I'm too ladylike for that," she grinned.

"Lily, these are my parents," James said, clasping his hand her in hers and ushering her over to the two adults standing, still wearing their coats, by the door.

"Pleased to meet you Lily, we've heard a _lot _about you," Mrs Potter grinned.

"Thank you," Lily smiled bashfully, seeing James blush.

"Thanks Mum," he muttered, making his friends and parents laugh again.

Soon, Mrs Evans was back – with a tall girl who looked like she had just smelt something bad. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and was very skinny, and the shocking pink cocktail dress she was wearing did nothing to make her look curvier. She would have been reasonably pretty if she didn't wear such a pinched, horse-faced expression and actually smiled.

"Petunia, don't you want to thank Lily's friends for coming?" Mrs Evans prompted.

"Thank you for coming, it means such a lot," Petunia said through gritted teeth, sarcasm oozing from her words.

"We bought you a bottle of wine, Petunia, as a gift," Mr Potter said, handing her the bottle of Muggle wine that looked extremely expensive.

Petunia's mouth curled into one of the fakest smiles Sirius had ever seen – and he spent half his life with fake girls.

"Thank you," Petunia said, and then, as she turned to go and gossip with her friends, she put it down on a little table at the bottom of the stairs, not bothered by it at all.

"I'm so sorry about Petunia – she's a little tense, really," Mrs Evans gulped. "Would you like a drink?"

"No thank you," Mr Potter said good-naturedly, "we'd better go. Are you sure it is okay for them to stay here?"

"Oh, it's absolutely fine! Petunia's moved in with Vernon, her fiancé, so there is her room, the spare room and Lily's room so everybody will be comfortable," Mrs Evans assured them.

"Okay, thank you, see you soon, kids!" Mr Potter said and he and his wife left. A faint crack could be heard, the sound of them apparating back to their home.

"Come on, let's go into the dining room. Then we can escape Elizabeth and hopefully put some music on," Lily suggested, her hand in James'.

They all crowded into the dining room, and Lily shut the door behind them. She looked across all of her friends.

"Where's Peter?"

"His mum thought it would damage him to be among so many muggles when he has not yet learned how to conceal his magical abilities," Remus provided.

"What magical abilities?" Sirius snorted.

"Anyway, do you want me to nick some food and we can have our own party in here?" Lily asked.

Sirius' eyes lit up at the mention of food. "Yes please!" he yelled, causing the others to fall about laughing. Lily smiled.

"Don't worry, my mum and dad cooked enough food to provide for a whole army, there will still be plenty left – even when Sirius is done," she added, slipping out of the dining room door. James followed her.

"I've come to help you, my petal," he whispered in her ear.

"Ah, my knight in shining armour..." she grinned.

"Most definitely!" James agreed, following her into the kitchen, where the buffet was set out. There were many guests in there, but there was one absolutely huge man who looked as if he'd crammed all of his body fat into the tight suit he was wearing and that it would burst at any moment – he was piling his plate high with cake, biscuits, sandwiches, sausage rolls, mini spring rolls and prawn toast, samosas, numerous different dips and potato salad. He made Sirius' appetite look like the one of a small child.

"Who on earth is that fat dude over there? He looks as if he might explode!" James murmured.

"Oh him, that's the groom, Vernon Dursley," Lily answered as she put a selection of food on a large wooden tray.

James suddenly realised he'd stuck his foot in it. "Oh, I'm sorry Lil, he is really attractive, um, nice hair, full of volume and body..."

Lily laughed. "James, I hate him. He's such a fat walrus! He's so greedy, every time he comes over here for dinner he eats practically the entire contents of our fridge!"

James was pleased to hear Lily call him a "fat walrus". They carried on verbally abusing him as they collected food, and then manoeuvred themselves through the people drinking glasses of white wine and beer to the dining room – where Sirius was now rooting through Lily's music collection to find something that they could dance to.

"Padfoot! Couldn't you wait until Lil got back?" James groaned.

Sirius turned round, with a look on his face as if he had just been caught robbing a bank. "Sorry, Lil, I wanted to liven it up a bit..."

"No, it's fine. So what do you want to put on? As long as it's loud, rocky and will be heard by everybody in the house then it's okay by me!" Lily said brightly.

"You want everyone to hear it?" Isabel asked doubtfully – knowing full well it would cause Petunia to run in and yell at them very angrily.

"Of course. What's a party without music?" Lily said with a roguish glint in her eye.

"Okay... so, I have lined up a few favourites..." Sirius grinned, "but seeing as you want the loudest, how about... this?"

"That is my favourite!" Lily gushed as Sirius put the record on. Two seconds later, the sound of the Beach Boys blasted out excruciatingly loudly.

"Come on, Lil, let's dance!" James said, grabbing her hand and twisting wildly with her by the window. Sirius was dancing too crazily for Isabel or even Remus to join him so they just stayed seated, singing along with the lyrics.

It was approximately a minute later when Petunia banged the door open, her face red in anger. Lily simply smiled sweetly at her, continuing to dance with James.

"LILY! WHY DID YOU PUT THIS RUBBISH ON?" Petunia screeched. Her guests were looking at her with fear on their surprised faces.

"Excuse me, this is most definitely not rubbish. This is the sound of the Beach Boys, which happen to be one of the best bands in the whole entire universe. This song, '_I Get Around_', released in 1964, happens to have gone gold and reached number one in the States, and number seven here. So I can happily conclude that this is not rubbish," Sirius spoke up, pausing the music briefly and grinning at her inanely.

"My God, Lily, your friends are such freaks! TURN THIS RUBBISH OFF!" she howled.

"Don't call them freaks!" Lily hissed.

"I'll call them freaks if I like, this is _my_ party for _my_ engagement and I don't want this rubbish to be playing. TURN IT OFF!"

"Actually, Petunia," a voice piped up from the door. Everybody turned to see who it was – it appeared to be a pale, pretty blonde girl in a black closely fitting shift dress with tall high heels. Her eyes were lined by perfectly mascaraed eyelashes and her lips were painted scarlet. "Most of the guests like the Beach Boys."

Petunia glared at the girl venomously and left, but Lily smiled.

"Thanks, Elizabeth," she said to the blonde girl.

"This is the pompous pickle?" Sirius mouthed to James across the room, who stifled a laugh.

"It's okay – who is this?" she asked interestedly as soon as she clocked Sirius. Lily rolled her eyes – Sirius generally had this effect on girls – and quickly made the introductions.

"Sirius – wow, that's an unusual name," Elizabeth said flirtatiously.

"Thanks, Lizzie–" Sirius began disinterestedly.

"It's Elizabeth," she interrupted, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Um, right. Yeah, I suppose it is, but I like to think I'm an usual kind of guy," he grinned. Isabel burst out laughing. Elizabeth shot her a look, but then Isabel rearranged her features – she was still angry at Sirius for what he said and not talking to him. She didn't talk to him at the Potters', and not so far this evening. "Elizabeth, this is Isabel," Sirius said, a little less enthusiastically than usual.

"Pleased to meet you," Elizabeth said, sounding not very pleased at all, and inching closer to an uncomfortable-looking Sirius.

"So, er, Remus, shame Amanda's not here isn't it?" Sirius said in a weird voice, looking at Remus meaningfully. Thankfully, being higher than average intelligence, he caught on to the fact that Sirius wanted Elizabeth to get lost.

"Yeah – your _girlfriend _is so gorgeous, isn't she?" he said.

"Oi, hands off, she's mine. I think she is _the one_," Sirius said, placing emphasis on those words. Elizabeth's face dropped – and nobody noticed that Isabel's tightened at the same time.

"Oh, you have a girlfriend?" she said, trying to hide her disappointment.

"Yeah, we're going pretty steady. Have been since we were eleven. Practically engaged," Sirius said nonchalantly. Isabel snorted.

"Oh right... see you later, I think I hear my sister calling me," Elizabeth said, and left.

"Remus, oh thank you, thank you, _thank you_!" Sirius said, falling to his knees in front of his friend. "What can I do to repay you?"

"Um... worship me?" he said jokingly, but Sirius proceeded to do so and circle Remus' chair chanting,

"OH REMUS THE GREAT! REMUS THE GREAT! REMUS THE GREAT!"

"Sirius – do me a favour?" Remus asked.

"Sure, anything, Moony old buddy, old pal!" Sirius said eagerly.

"Shut the hell up," he advised. Sirius frowned, but then went over to dance with Lily and James.

"You know, I think we should do something really exciting," he suggested.

"Like what?" Lily asked.

"Have you got a spare bottle of wine hanging around by any chance?" he said, eyes glinting.

"Might have, I'll go and have a look," she answered, and briefly left the room. When she came back, she had a large bottle of red wine in her hand, and she put it down in the centre of the table – which they all sat around.

"I have an idea for a game," Sirius said. "It's a really good one."

"Go on then," James prompted.

"Well, it's called... wait for it... _truth or dare with a twist_!" he said, waving his arms around melodramatically.

"With a twist?" Remus asked sceptically.

"Of course! The twist is... whenever we get a truth or a dare, you have to do it – and if you refuse, you have to drink the whole bottle of wine," he said, cackling wickedly.

"Oh right then, let's leave Mr Evil alone over there and start playing the game," James said. "The 'twist' sounds alright."

"Okay, can I go first?" Sirius said, jumping up and down in his seat.

"I suppose. Okay, Paddy, truth or dare?" James asked.

"I pick... dare... no! Truth! Ha – had you all there, didn't I?" he grinned. Isabel rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

"Fine... okay, truth... erm, who is the best kisser out of all the girls you've ever kissed?" James asked.

Sirius looked thoughtful for a few minutes. "I think it's Amanda," he said finally.

Isabel started at these words. He thought Amanda was the best kisser out of all his conquests! But... Amanda, technically, was Isabel – therefore he thought Isabel was the best kisser. Though, it was kind of subconscious, as he didn't _know_ it was Isabel. She smiled to herself at this, but straightened her face quickly before anybody noticed.

"Okay – it's my turn now... Moony! Truth or dare?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"I don't know if I can trust you to think of a dare that won't completely humiliate me," he shuddered.

"Moony, Moony, _Moony_! The whole point of dares is that you get humiliated! Now, which would you opt for: public humiliation – a dare – or possible humiliation in front of these people here – a truth. Bear in mind the sort of questions I will ask you as a truth," Sirius explained.

"Okay, I pick dare," he said quickly, thinking of all the questions that Sirius would ask him – this was the boy that, during a game of truth or dare in fourth year, had asked Lily whether she wanted to sleep with James and bear his children. This was also the boy that made the mistake of telling Lily that he liked feisty women after she slapped him.

"Alright... I dare you to go and call Vernon Dursley a walrus to his _face_," Sirius grinned evilly.

Remus shook his head.

"Suit yourself, Moony baboony, but you'll have to drink the _whole _of this bottle," Sirius threatened.

"Okay, okay, where is he?" Remus asked, jumping up out of his seat and exiting the room in search of the groom-to-be. His friends followed suit, not able to wait to see the look on Vernon's face when Remus called him a walrus.

"Hello," Remus said brightly to Vernon – who was stuffing his face with a salmon and cucumber sandwich – "I think congratulations are in order. Remus Lupin, pleased to meet you."

"Remus Lupin? Funny name, that – oh, you're one of _her _lot, aren't you?" he said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"If by _her _you mean Lily, I'm her friend, yes, but I thought it good manners to congratulate the groom," he said coolly, and Lily silently thanked him.

"Ah, nice of you, then," Vernon said hastily, shaking Remus' hand.

"Yes it is very nice of me, I agree," Remus said, biting his lip. "So what do you do for a living? _YOU FAT WALRUS_!" he yelled, and then he scarpered, past his friends who had practically collapsed on the floor with laughter and into the dining room, diving under the table to hide.

A couple of minutes later, Sirius, James, Lily and Isabel re-entered the room, still giggling.

"Moony – that was bloody priceless!" Sirius said, exploding back into maniacal laughter.

"Nice to see you think so," Remus muttered, getting back up from under the table.

"Comedy thy name is Remus Lupin," James laughed.

"Thanks, but now it's _my _turn," Remus said, smiling like no young man should be smiling.

"Oh dear," Isabel said – she was sat beside him.

"Isabel... truth or dare?" he asked.

Considering what they asked Remus to do, Isabel decided the safest option would be truth. Then she could tell them whatever they wanted to know and she would be able to truth or dare Lily.

"Truth," she said confidently.

"Alright then... why aren't you talking to Sirius?" Remus asked, somewhat sneakily. Isabel practically burst into tears. They could ask her any question – and they picked that?

"Couldn't you ask me a different question?" she suggested.

"No, answer that one or drink the whole bottle of wine," Remus said. Isabel glanced at the bottle nervously – it contained at least six glasses of wine, and the only thing she had drunk before that was remotely alcoholic was Butterbeer. Nobody could get drunk off Butterbeer, though. It was physically impossible. And when Sirius and James managed to sneak some Firewhisky from Hogsmeade, she never had any. So she was likely to get absolutely smashed if she drank the whole bottle.

Everybody sat up, waiting for her answer.

Isabel closed her eyes briefly. She would have to drink it, otherwise risk telling them about Amanda. But, theoretically, if she was drunk, she would have to tell them anyway. Or, she could make up a story. Or, pick a dare.

"I pick dare," she said.

Everybody laughed.

"You can't change your answer!" Remus reminded her.

"Please don't ask me this question, because I can't tell you and I can't drink the wine either," she begged.

"Why can't you tell us why you're not talking to me, Isabel?" Sirius asked frostily. He felt he had a right to know. He didn't want to get used to her not talking to him – like she had done at the Potters' when they met before apparating to Lily's house.

"I can't," she said sadly.

Lily looked at her pityingly. "Well, we can't force you to do either, Izzy, so maybe you should do a dare," she suggested. Isabel smiled weakly.

"You can't change it! It's the rules!" Sirius protested.

"Fine, I'll drink the bloody wine then!" Isabel growled, and took a large swig from the bottle.

Isabel observed that it wasn't a wholly unpleasant taste, but very strong, and even after her first couple of swigs – drinking half of the bottle – she felt really weird. Kind of light and airy, as if she could do anything.

"Maybe you should stop now, Izzy," Lily said concernedly.

"Ah, no, Liwy, I'm absodutely fine. Fwine," Isabel slurred. Apparently, she was such a lightweight she could get drunk off about four glasses of wine.

"You don't sound fine, Izzy," Lily said firmly. "You sound drunk."

"Me? _Dwunk? _Ha! As if..." Isabel laughed uncontrollably. The Marauders and Lily exchanged glances.

"Just don't drink the other half of the bottle, Isabel," Remus warned.

"No!" Isabel protested. "I'm fwine! Wow, Liwy, your hair is like FIRE!" Isabel said, her blue eyes wide, staring at Lily's hair. "It's so pwetty! I love you Lily, you are my bestest fwend! Apart from Siwius, but we're not speaking. Isn't that so weird? That one minute we were talking like a big happy famiwy and then we're not! It's the weirdest thing, since, weirdness!"

More glances were exchanged.

"Izzy, do you want to lie down?" Lily suggested. "Go to sleep, perhaps? In the recovery position..." she muttered.

"Nah, I'm on FIRE! I'm weady for anything! Oh my Merlin, Siwius is so handsome! Does everybody say this? Oh my Merlin, everybody does! It must be twue! Siwius is handsome! Ha, ha, HA!" she began to laugh again as everybody stared at her in alarm, especially Sirius.

"You are going for a lie down," Lily ordered.

"No! The partwy is just starting!" Isabel yelled – when in actual fact it was about eleven and people were leaving.

"Come on, Izzy, let's get you to bed," Lily persisted. She tried to lift her friend up, but due to Lily being a couple of inches shorter, even in heels, it was rather difficult and she had to call upon the help of Sirius and James. James obliged, but Sirius frowned.

"Padfoot, come on, she might start talking to you again," James reminded him, so he shrugged, and got up.

Remus went to put the wine bottle away (avoiding Vernon Dursley entirely) as Sirius and James helped the extremely drunk Isabel (no matter how much she protested otherwise, they all knew that she would have a headache the size of Mount Everest the next morning) up the stairs. Lily opened the door to a room with Petunia's name on the door – inside it looked as if it had been newly decorated, no doubt because of Petunia's moving out. It had been painted turquoise, and had a white duvet with blue and silver flowers embroidered onto it. The two boys lay Isabel down on the bed, and she fell asleep practically straight away.

"Sirius, you're going to have to do the spell to eradicate hangovers on her tomorrow morning," Lily informed him.

"Hey! Why me?" he growled.

"Because you're the only one who's of age," Lily said, matter-of-factly.

"She is not even speaking to me Lily! She'll probably think I'm trying to mess up her mind or something," he continued.

"No she won't. I know you care about her, so there's no point pretending otherwise. You know what she's like, she responds to people helping and caring for her. And perhaps she'll confess to why she can't tell us her reasons for not speaking to you. Understand?" Lily said sternly.

"Prongs, your girlfriend is scarily astute, man," Sirius said in alarm.

"I know, she's amazing, isn't she?" James grinned happily.

"Now, go back downstairs to Remus you two, and carry on messing about. I'll sit with her for a while to check she's okay," Lily said, and they both left.

Lily sat herself down on the end of the bed and glanced at her best friend, who seemed to be sleeping okay.

An hour later, she was about to leave, when she heard Isabel whisper her name. She looked back, and saw that her eyes were open.

"Izzy, are you okay?" Lily asked.

"I'm drunk. I feel awful. Thanks for bringing me up here, Lils, you're an angel," Isabel whispered.

"It's okay – James and Sirius did it, anyway. I just thought I'd sit with you for a while," Lily replied.

"Lily – I think someone should know why I'm not talking to Sirius. But you can't tell anybody – you have to swear!" Isabel said.

"Okay, I won't tell anyone. Please tell me, Izzy!" Lily begged.

"Alright – it's a bit of a long story. Well, Sirius has always had a reputation as a womaniser, right? So I wanted to change that. He was breaking hearts left, right and centre and I thought that he needed to meet the perfect girl that he would stop tarting around with others because he liked her so much. Nobody seemed to meet the description – so I kind of became Amanda," Isabel admitted.

"Amanda? You're Amanda?" Lily asked sceptically.

"Yep. Through Polyjuice Potion – this really pretty blonde girl bumped into me on September 1st at King's Cross on the muggle side and left some hairs on my jumper. I made the potion and I became Amanda, and kept meeting up with Sirius, and – well – he was my first kiss. But I was Amanda, so it doesn't really count!" she hastened to add.

Lily smiled. "And he said Amanda was the best kisser ever."

"Lily, aren't you supposed to be mad with me?" Isabel asked incredulously.

"Carry on, I will be in a minute," Lily said.

"Well, I asked him what his relationship was with me, whether he just liked me as a friend. Purely for research, obviously, but he said I was kind of pretty but really I was average, and that I was like his sister and kissing me would feel so incestuous he would be induced to vomit!" Isabel sniffed. "I don't know why it made me so mad, but I ran off and cried and it seems really trivial, but it means a lot to me – but I can't explain why because I don't know."

"Isabel, I thought you were supposed to be intelligent! Do you not know how much this is messing with Sirius' head, and heart – and in the process your own?" Lily scowled.

"How is it messing up mine? And Sirius can cope with it," she said grumpily.

"Listen to yourself," Lily said exasperatedly, "you are not talking to your best friend because of something he said in confidentiality to a person who was supposedly somebody else. Yes, you may not have liked it, but as you say, you did it for research. Sirius is your friend. Why would you care if he expected anything more?"

"I don't know," Isabel sighed. "I can't work it out."

"I can think of an answer," Lily said in a small voice.

"Really? What is it?" Isabel asked.

"I think you need to work it out for yourself," Lily pointed it out, "because life isn't like a story book, Isabel. It isn't like a textbook, where the answers are in the back and you can correct things in the blink of an eye when you get them wrong. You have your friends and family to help you, but some things you need to identify for yourself."

"Okay, Lils," Isabel replied. "I feel really bad about this whole Amanda thing."

"I think you should apologise to Sirius and tell him that you are Amanda. _Soon_. You owe him that, Izzy," Lily told her.

"Alright. Thanks, Lily. Goodnight," Isabel whispered, and then turned over to fall asleep again.

Lily sighed. She waited for another half an hour, then tiptoed out of the room, ensuring that she left the door open slightly so she could check on her friend later without waking her up.

She tiptoed down the stairs – her parents were just saying goodbye to Petunia and Vernon. They were standing in the doorway, talking quietly, so Lily slipped past them, back through the hall into the dining room. But when she got there, she heard the Marauders talking in serious voices – and, though she knew she shouldn't do it, she stood at the door listening to them.

"Padfoot – are you telling me that you actually like Amanda and want to spend time with her instead of hooking up with her in a broom cupboard?" she heard James said in astonishment.

"Yes," Sirius muttered. "She's not like all those other girls. Merlin, I sound like a bloody cliché, don't I?"

Lily heard the faint murmuring of agreement.

"Anyway, she's pretty – some of the Hogwarts girls I've got with are absolutely stunning, but there's nothing beneath the external prettiness. There is with Amanda. She's clever, vivacious, flirtatious without being slutty or forward, and you're able to have a good conversation with her. Something all the other girls lacked," he described.

"Whoa, Pads!" James said.

"You sound like somebody–" Remus began.

"In love," James finished.

"I think I love her, lads. I think I've finally met the girl who could make Sirius Black, serial womaniser, fall in love," he said.

Lily practically fainted. She wouldn't be so bothered if she hadn't just experienced the revelation that Amanda was Isabel. And all those things Sirius just described about what made Amanda so amazing were all Isabel's qualities.

Lily was confused: did this make Sirius in love with _Isabel_?

_

* * *

_

I hope you liked that! Please review to get the next chapter, which involves them returning to Hogwarts post-Christmas holidays... Have a great holiday and a very happy new year!!!!!

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	17. The Sand In The Hourglass Is Falling

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _I know I am a COMPULSIVE updater - I just really want people to read it :) thank you to everybody who reviewed: ClaireMarieCullen, vanillabean18, sarlovesoccer, .limits111, Flicka200, Rhiannon da crazygirl, spannieren and ; thank you to connor-rox and jarofdirt123 for adding my story to your alert subscriptions and thank you to Hyper Emo Panda, blairandchuck and .xxx for adding my story to your favourites! So we left off with Sirius saying he loved Amanda, who is in fact Isabel, and Lily now knows the true identity of Amanda after Isabel drunkenly confessed...

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen**

_**The Sand in the Hourglass is Falling**_

A brunette girl was trundling along a train station, pulling her very heavy trunk. This time, she was not accosted by two handsome boys offering to help her. They nowhere to be seen – as was the flame-haired girl.

Isabel, though it pained her to say it, missed Sirius. She missed him dearly. She honestly wondered why she wouldn't just tell him what he had done, or, similarly, make up a story and pretend to forgive him.

The thing was, Sirius' jokes often offended people, but Isabel was not one of them. He would joke about her skinny figure (which was no longer looking as skinny, Isabel observed – it was curving in all the right places), and she would let him. He would joke about her flyaway hair (which she could apply liberal amounts of Sleekeazy Hair Potions to, but couldn't be bothered to everyday), and she would let him. He would joke about her weekend 'uniform' of jeans, Converse and band t-shirts (most of the bands he enjoyed listening to as well, and Isabel had lost count of the amount of times that she had worn his AC/DC t-shirt in preference to her own clothes), and she would let him.

Conversely, she would joke about his serial womanising (though three girls in one day was a bit of a record for him), and he would let her. She would joke about his large appetite (she had never known anybody have such an appetite – Sirius ate about five meals a day as he nipped to the kitchen between classes most days), and he would let her. She would joke about his lack of knowledge about anything muggle except for music (Sirius could rival anyone, even die-hard muggle music fans, with his music knowledge – he had proved that at Petunia's engagement party when he had reeled off practically a whole book's worth of knowledge about one song by the Beach Boys – and Isabel and Sirius would listen to music together, sharing the same taste), and he would let her. They would joke together – they had done plenty of times and several pranks had come out of it. They were like a team, partners in crime, but now that partnership had been severed and it seemed to be no more.

And Isabel missed it immensely.

She pulled the suitcase along – it was rather noisy, and attracting a lot of attention, but not as much as Alethia would have in her cage. Alethia was already in the Owlery at Hogwarts, and her cage in the bedroom Lily and Isabel shared in the Gryffindor tower. So transporting her things should, theoretically, have been much easier. But it wasn't, and Isabel didn't have anyone to help her. Lily, James, Remus, Sirius and Peter were nowhere to be seen. She couldn't even see Jonas.

Jonas. Her lovely boyfriend. She had gone to see him on Christmas Eve – they had met up in Diagon Alley. They had gone shopping together – spending a lot of time in Quality Quidditch Supplies (they were a Quidditch playing couple – it was to be expected!), in which they had bumped into the Prewett twins with Noah Hamilton (who said he was shopping for Allie and could Isabel help him pick her something?) cooing over the new Nimbus racing broom. Isabel had persuaded him to go in Flourish and Blotts with her – he had obliged, smiling as she perused the shelves with much interest, picking up books and reading the blurbs in one hand, and holding his hand in her other. They went to the Leaky Cauldron for some lunch; it had been packed with many students they knew from school doing last minute present shopping (including Allie Marshall, who was apparently looking for something for Noah – would Isabel or Jonas possibly know what she could get him?) so they had a lovely time saying hello to their friends and gazing into each other's eyes over their food. Then, deciding they were not yet full, they went to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and bought large ice creams which they ate as they walked through the snow-lined street. It had been lovely and romantic.

She missed him a lot – and not just because he would be able to pull her suitcase along with ease. He was sweet, funny, clever and a good Quidditch player. All the right qualities for a boyfriend, Isabel thought.

Isabel had arrived at the barrier – she checked there were no muggles around, and surreptitiously leaned against it, pulling her trunk through, so that she landed on the other side and could find her friends.

As she was pulling her suitcase onto the train at ten to eleven, she felt it move easily – and saw that her lovely boyfriend was pushing the end for her, grinning.

"Jonas!" she said excitedly, throwing her arms around him, all thoughts of manoeuvring her trunk forgotten.

"Hey beautiful," he whispered in her ear, then kissed her properly, regardless of all the people milling around.

Isabel was ecstatic – she loved it when he did that, like he wasn't afraid to show her off to the world as his girlfriend. It made her feel special – but somehow, whenever he said, "Hey beautiful", it reminded her of when Sirius said it to Amanda. And how much more pleasure it gave her to hear it from Sirius than Jonas. But whenever she thought this, she shoved it right to the back of her mind, remembering that she had a lovely perfect boyfriend, and she couldn't really ask for much more.

"Want to find a compartment?" he asked.

"I'd love to," she smiled, and he pulled her trunk down the aisle for her.

They passed many carriages – a group of scary looking Slytherins, Lily's ex-best friend Severus Snape sitting amongst them, smiling greasily; some excitable first-year Hufflepuffs; the Prewett twins, with Noah Hamilton, Eddie Morgan and Frank Longbottom, with the new addition of Allie and Jane. Finally, they managed to secure an empty carriage, which happened to be next door to one currently occupied by James, Sirius and Peter (Lily and Remus off doing their prefect duties).

"Can I just say hi to my friends?" Isabel asked, and Jonas nodded, taking her suitcase into their compartment.

She popped her head round the door. Two of its three occupants smiled warmly, and one had a neutral expression on his face as if he couldn't quite decide whether he was happy to see her or not.

"Isabel, hello!" James said in a comically posh voice. "Absolutely spiffing to see you, absolutely corking, really!"

"Hi James," she grinned. "Hey Peter... Sirius," she added. Peter smiled at her, Sirius just nodded and turned to look out of the window.

"Are you going to sit in here?" James asked.

"No, I'm next door with Jonas," she said happily.

"Alright, see you later," James said nicely. At least James said something – Sirius didn't, though Isabel didn't really blame him. She was still not talking to him and it was getting ridiculous.

Sirius looked up at the door, watching Isabel exit. To be honest, he was fed up. He had helped her at the party, which Lily had asked him to do, and told him that if he did, she would respond to it by making up with him, and being thankful. But no, when his name was mentioned, she frowned. He was fed up of trying to work out what he had done to offend her. He was fed up of not talking to her, he missed her like crazy. He could no longer laugh about Lily and James with her. He could no longer try and convince her to stop doing her homework and to come out and have fun. He could no longer try to help her in the library – bearing in mind that was help in inverted commas, as usually he made this five times as difficult but they had a good laugh about it later. He could no longer listen to music with her. He could no longer laugh with her about the size of his appetite, her skinny frame (which he noticed at Christmas was curving out in, what he was happy to say, all the right places), her band t-shirt obsession or her crush on Jonas. And he could safely say that he missed it.

"Hello? Earth to Padfoot?"

Sirius was suddenly made aware of a hand waving in front of his face. It was James, looking slightly worried.

"Oh, sorry, in a world of my own," Sirius said.

"So I see," James said, winking knowingly. Sirius laughed at this – James had an uncanny way that he tried to act serious but it ended up backfiring and making him look jokier than ever. "Thinking about Isabel?"

"Yep. I just think it's getting a bit stupid now – I mean, it's like as I forge my relationship with Amanda, my relationship with Isabel gets ruined. It's ridiculous," he sighed.

"Your feelings for Isabel _are_ purely platonic, aren't they?" James asked quizzically.

Sirius hesitated – during his hesitation, James and Peter exchanged knowing glances. "I think so... but I can't be sure, you know?"

"Rampant hormones," James said, nodding knowingly.

"Can you take anything seriously?" Sirius laughed.

"I try," James said, and then, as if an afterthought, added, "and fail. Repeatedly."

"Let's just forget about it," Peter suggested.

"Slightly difficult, mate, seeing as the time I don't spend with you lot I spend with Isabel. And now I can't. See my problem?" he said, somewhat condescendingly.

"Only a suggestion," Peter said petulantly.

"What about Amanda? Have you seen her lately?" James said brightly.

"She sent me a present at Christmas," Sirius said, "and I sent her one. She got me this absolutely amazing book about the Montrose Magpies, I've read it three times already!"

"Padders – I don't think I've even seen you _finish _a book! Oh my Merlin, this is such a shock!" James said dramatically, and pretended to faint onto the floor of the carriage. He lay still for about half a minute then snapped his eyes open. "What did you get her then?"

"It lives!" Sirius grinned audaciously. "I bought her something good."

"Oh no... what did you get her? You didn't take my suggestion about sexy underwear seriously did you?" James asked.

"Of course not, Prongsy, we've already established you are not a serious kind of person. That's me!" Sirius said, causing his friends to roll their eyes at his little pun. "She told me she liked music, so I made her a compilation of my favourite music and tied a nice bow around it."

"You know, Pads, that is actually quite a thoughtful present!" James said.

"Thank you," Sirius grinned.

"What music did you put on it?" James asked curiously.

"A bit of the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Who, Kiss, Thin Lizzy, the Kinks, the Monkees, AC/DC–" Sirius listed off.

"Hang on – which AC/DC track did you put on there? It's not that one you played me was it?" he asked hurriedly.

"On that album, '_Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap_'?" Sirius grinned. "The one entitled '_Big B_–"

"Yes, _thank you_," James said, shutting him up. "It wasn't that one, was it? You know, if I played that to Lily, I'd probably get a slap – in fact, I did get a slap!"

"Poor you, my friend. No, it wasn't. It was '_It's A Long Way To The Top_'," Sirius reassured him.

"Ah, good song, good song," James smiled.

"Obviously – now, how about a game of Exploding Snap?" Sirius asked, and Peter's eyes lit up.

*

That evening, when they were back in the Gryffindor common, Lily decided to go and look at Isabel's Polyjuice Potion. Isabel hadn't gotten round to telling Sirius about it – and was now discussing some muggle literature with Remus. Sirius was lying on the sofa upside down, with his legs hooked over the back of it and his head on the floor, looking at the fire. James was playing wizard chess with Peter, who was failing spectacularly.

Lily wandered upstairs, making a vague excuse about wanting to get her copy of _Witch Weekly_ from their bedroom. Upon entering her room, she scanned her emerald eyes across it. Where would she hide the potion if she were Isabel?

She looked under Isabel's bed – which seemed to be home to an extensive amount of brightly coloured shoes – and there was no potion. She looked in her bedside cabinet – which was home to huge stacks of books which practically exploded in Lily's face when she opened the door, there were so many in there. She looked everywhere – she sat down on her bed and thought a little more. Then she remembered – she hadn't checked Isabel's wardrobe. And, when she opened the door, she saw a cauldron at the bottom containing a pearlescent violet liquid. She lifted it up, and glanced inside. There didn't seem to be much left – probably only enough for Isabel to masquerade as Amanda for a couple of more hours. Time was ticking away slowly, the sand in the imaginary hourglass falling.

And when it was gone, Isabel would have to confess to Sirius that she was Amanda.

:) x Lily Orange x (:

_

* * *

_

Does anybody know of the AC/DC song Sirius was alluding to? Thanks for reading - this kind of sums up how a lot of the main characters are feeling (mainly conflicted) - please review for the next chapter which involves Lily's birthday, and a truce!!!! Please get reviewing and I'll update as soon as I wake up tomorrow morning :) that's a promise...


	18. Cinderella Syndrome

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Thank you to everybody who reviewed: fanny-kun, , ClaireMarieCullen, .limits111, xolunaxx, Rhiannon da crazygirl, Ash Blue, Freya-Rhianna, Stephie Cat-Kat, vanillabean18, EllieBaby and sarlovesoccer!! I'm glad you liked the last chapter so much and are anticipating the confession that is to come... ;) Thanks for reading, please leave a review!

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen**

_**Cinderella Syndrome**_

The Marauders were not sick of partying, at all. It was Lily's seventeen birthday the next day, and they were planning yet another party. Lily didn't know about this – Lily had tried as hard as she could to conceal the fact it was her birthday, but James, in his capacity as Lily-stalker in the past few years, knew exactly when her birthday was. And the birthdays of all her family members. If Lily was still refusing to accept that she liked him, she would have found it creepy. But now she thought it was sweet and he was a great source of reference in case she forgot family birthdays, seeing as he had memorized them all.

"Isabel, guess what?" James said excitedly as he jumped in the armchair opposite her in front of the fireplace in the common room.

"Um... it's Lily's birthday tomorrow?" Isabel suggested.

"Yes, but besides that – guess what!" James continued, unperturbed.

"You're planning a surprise party for Lily even though she doesn't want one?" Isabel suggested.

"Wow you are good!" James complimented. "But she will like it. Because it's only going to be a small party, and it's not in the Room of Requirement. It's going to be here, in the common room. We'll give Sirius permission to invite Amanda" – at this Isabel squirmed – "but apart from that, Gryffindors only!"

"Okay. Is this tomorrow night, then?" Isabel asked. She put aside the book she was supposed to be reading for Muggle Studies – _The Importance of Electricity in a Muggle Household_. It was reasonably interesting, but Isabel preferred party-planning (even if she could categorically say that Lily wouldn't like it, as Lily had told her; several times).

James nodded. "And she can't know anything about it – so keep your mouth shut, please, Isabel," he grinned.

"Charming," she snorted.

"I know, aren't I always? Now, we kind of... need your help for the party. Would you be able to help Sirius make the decorations?" James asked.

"Help _Sirius_?" Isabel asked, as if she hadn't heard him quite right. "James – I appreciate what you are trying to do, but he won't speak to me now. I just messed it all up, and everything. You know."

"Isabel, he misses you! Please make decorations with him and then you might be able to reconcile! Just forget about whatever it is he did and forgive him!" James pleaded. Isabel looked at him. She missed Sirius – desperately.

"Okay, I suppose. When?" Isabel asked.

"Now!" James said cheerfully, slapping lots of different coloured pieces of card, several canisters of glitter, tubs of glue, different coloured inks, paper, star sequins and little gems on the table. Isabel looked at him blankly.

"Where's Sirius?" she asked.

"In our bedroom, I'll go and get him," James said, but Isabel stopped him.

"How are you going to keep Lily out of here?"

"Easy. I can distract her absolutely brilliantly," he smiled, more to himself than anything, and ran up the boys' stairs to get Sirius so he and Isabel could make the decorations. Isabel was highly doubting that Sirius had ever done anything crafty before, and when he appeared, and looked at all the craft materials on the table that James had procured, the look on his face confirmed her suspicions.

"Did James rope you into this?" Isabel asked sympathetically, as he took a seat. She was going to make an effort. She missed him, though it pained her to admit it.

"Yep. Though I seriously doubt my decoration-making abilities," he sighed, then he looked at her in shock.

"What's the matter?" Isabel asked in alarm.

"You're talking to me!" Sirius yelped.

"I know. I'm sorry. I can't tell you why – but it was stupid and... I miss you," Isabel said quickly. He blinked at her, then raised his eyebrow quizzically.

"You don't talk to me for about three months, then expect it will all be solved by a seventeen-word apology?" he asked.

"Well, I bought you a sorry present as well," she admitted.

His eyes lit up at this. "What is it?" he asked, trying frantically to sound indifferent.

"A music CD," Isabel said, producing the CD, wrapped up in some silvery tissue paper. She handed it to him, and he ripped the paper open.

"Iz – honestly, you shouldn't have, even to apologise!" Sirius said, reverting back to using her nickname. She smiled.

"Honestly, you deserve it," she assured him. He held it up to the light, as if he couldn't quite believe what was in his hands. It was a copy of an album which Sirius had been wanting for ages (he had made it very clear by telling everybody who would listen – or in fact those who would pretend to listen and just nod their head at regular intervals as if they were listening – that he wanted it more than anything), a recent Thin Lizzy album, '_Jailbreak_'.

"Iz, I don't know what to say..." he drifted off, stroking the album happily.

"Say you'll forgive me? I'm so sorry," she apologised.

"Okay, Iz, I missed you," he said, pulling her into a tight hug. She felt a tear run down her cheek. She had missed him very much. "Aw, Iz, don't cry! Come on, let's make these decorations. I bet Lily will appreciate the effort, no matter how rubbish I make them!"

Isabel laughed. They spent the next two hours making decorations with the stuff James had left for them whilst he kept Lily busy. Sirius liked to cover everything he made (coloured card cut into interesting shapes) with lots of glitter, so had managed to cover the table, carpet, chairs and indeed himself with different colours of glitter. He even had some in his hair, and as the flames of the fire flickered, he sparkled.

"Merlin, you look like a walking talking disco ball!" Isabel chortled as he tried (and failed) to pick each piece of glitter out of his hair individually.

"Well, at least we can play my new CD at her party!" Sirius beamed at her – the CD was the one thing that had escaped being covered in glitter.

Isabel looked over the pile of decorations they had made. Her pile contained several different coloured stars (cut out of the card and paper), with little drawings and cartoons in the coloured inks on them, surrounded with a neat border of silver glitter. Sirius' pile contained several shapes (most of them unidentifiable) completely covered in various shades of glitter and a _lot_ of glue; Isabel had never _seen _somebody use so much glue on a small piece of card!

"I think we are finished," Isabel declared, and conjured up a box for them to put the decorations in until tomorrow. Sirius took them to go and hide under his bed (Isabel hoped this was safe – she dreaded to think what else resided under there, from what Remus said it sounded like a bottomless pit).

She was extremely happy – but there was still the nagging feeling that she enjoyed herself more in Sirius' presence than in Jonas'.

*

Isabel awoke content the next morning. She looked at the clock, and ascertained that the time was half past six. Her present for Lily – a gorgeous navy blue strapless dress with specks of gold glitter across it and matching gold strappy heeled shoes – was already wrapped, and stashed in her wardrobe, behind her cauldron of Polyjuice Potion. The cauldron full of potion was being depleted rapidly – although Isabel hated to admit it, unless she brewed more Polyjuice Potion, tonight, at Lily's surprise party would have to be her very last outing as Amanda.

She had already looked into the store cupboards – including Professor Slughorn's private stores when Jonas had diverted him by asking him a particularly riveting question about bezoars that would allow Slughorn to ramble on and on in answering – and not all of the ingredients were there, so it wasn't feasible.

Perhaps it would be a good thing if this were her last outing as Amanda. Then she could conceivably confess to Sirius about her_ being_ Amanda. Though it didn't really seem like such a good idea at the moment, considering her and Sirius were now speaking and things were virtually back to normal.

Tonight, she would go to the party for an hour as Isabel, then pop off and transform into Amanda, be Amanda for an hour, dance with Sirius and perhaps kiss him (not that she enjoyed it or anything, purely for the purposes of the relationship), then go and turn back into Isabel and carry on partying. It seemed quite simple.

She even had two outfits lined up – the typical Isabel outfit, a scarlet mini dress over the top of tight black skinny jeans and grey high heels; then the Amanda outfit, a cobalt blue asymmetric dress with silver shoes. She had even thought of a way to get Lily into the nice dress she was giving her for her birthday for the surprise party – she would suggest her trying it on to show James, take her down stairs, and then everybody would shout "SURPRISE!" and they would dance and party the night away in the common room to Sirius' new Thin Lizzy CD with Isabel and Sirius' decorations glimmering in the background.

It should be easy. More than easy. But she just had to get through the day without spilling the beans to Lily about the party.

*

"So Lily, how about we have a girly night where we dress up and make each other up?" Isabel suggested. They had just finished dinner and come up to their room. Isabel had already laid numerous beauty products out on her bed and put Lily's dress out for her on her bed. Lily loved to dress up and mess about with makeup, so she would undoubtedly oblige quite happily.

"Sounds like a brilliant idea," Lily agreed.

They had loads of fun, putting on radically coloured eye shadows, masses of mascara, lots of lipstick, drawing eyeliner on their eyelids and applying ridiculously sticky lip gloss. When they had finally decided to keep the looks – Lily with grey smoky eyes, clear lip gloss and Isabel with a thin line of black liquid eyeliner on her upper lash line, mountains of mascara and a smidgeon of red lip gloss – they started dressing up. Lily immediately put on her new dress, which she had fallen in love with as soon as she had opened the package, and carefully put her feet into the gold shoes lovingly.

"Lils, you look amazing!" Isabel said sincerely – the dress was exactly the right thing for Lily, the blue looked beautiful with her fiery red hair.

"Thank you – what are you going to put on?" Lily asked, searching through Isabel's wardrobe, like she did on a regular basis to find the perfect clothes.

Isabel fingered the red dress, and slipped it on over her black jeans.

"Can I pick your shoes?" Lily asked, looking under Isabel's bed, where she kept the hoards of shoes she had collected. She was something of a shoe fanatic.

She went straight for the grey suede heels with the T-bar on them that Isabel had envisioned as being part of this outfit, and demanded that Isabel put them on.

"We look beautiful," Lily grinned in their mirror as they posed for Isabel's camera. A lot of their wall space was covered in pictures taken on Isabel's camera, which she developed in a special potion so that they moved. Many pictures of both of them smiled and waved at them, along with several containing the Marauders, a few of Lily and James and loads of Sirius and Isabel.

"Want to go and show James and the Marauders?" Isabel asked craftily.

"Of course! I really want James to see the amazing dress you bought me, and the beautiful shoes!" Lily said ecstatically. Isabel went down the stairs first, talking really loudly so that the occupants of the common room would hear them.

Remus quickly turned the lights off, and the Gryffindors all stood silent as they waited for the guest of honour, the newly of-age Lily Evans, to appear.

"Oh bloody Merlin, Izzy, it's pitch black!" Lily groaned, causing James to splutter with laughter.

"It is quite dark, isn't it?" Isabel agreed innocently.

Suddenly, the lights turned back on and everyone jumped out, yelling (the extremely original words picked by James, who had already had them practice bellowing it in unison at least a dozen times whilst Lily was in the library) "SURPRISE! HAPPY SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY LILY!"

Lily practically fell over in shock when she drank in the full view of everybody grinning (and in Sirius' case, singing loudly and tunelessly) at her. She looked straight at Isabel.

"I told you I didn't want a party!" she said, though grinning all the same.

"Sorry, Lils, it was against my will!" Isabel said, holding her hands up in defence as James came forward and Lily threw her arms around his neck.

"LET'S PARTY!" Sirius yelled and grabbed a bottle of Butterbeer off the table, and then proceeded to throw himself into the centre of the crowd, leading a slightly off-key version of "_Happy Birthday_".

Isabel was immediately pulled by Sirius into the crowd with him to jump about. Lily gave her a look of pure surprise – it was common knowledge that they had not talked in months and Lily knew the reason why – but Isabel raised an eyebrow and mouthed, "I haven't told him."

Lily frowned, but began to dance with James.

An hour later, Isabel decided to excuse herself. She was having a really good time – better than any time in ages – but she had to make this her last outing as Amanda. She would make a quick goodbye to Sirius, and then hope that he forgot about her. She didn't really want to do it, but felt compelled to him.

She slipped out the portrait hole and into the nearest girls' bathroom, drank the potion and changed into the cobalt blue dress. She scowled at herself in the mirror. She had messed things up. This had always been a bad idea. At least today would be the last time – then things could return to normal. Hopefully.

A passing Gryffindor let her into the common room (under Sirius' instruction, which the poor boy didn't dare go against) and she quickly made her way towards him. She had one hour. One hour to end everything, to rectify any mistakes. Though she couldn't tell him that she, Isabel, his supposed best friend, had tricked him by pretending to be a pretty blonde girl who he would like as more than a random snog partner. It was impossible.

"Amanda!" Sirius called excitedly, and lifted her up, grinning madly.

"Hi Sirius," she said, and did something she had never done before – she kissed the tip of his nose. She smiled shyly, and he continued his incessant smiling.

"Hey beautiful," he greeted her. "Do you want to dance with me?"

Amanda laughed. "Aren't we already dancing?"

"I wouldn't be classified as a gentleman if I didn't ask my lady if she wanted to dance with me," he said in a posh voice.

"Fine, I consent, mister gentleman," she grinned and he took her hand.

Isabel felt him envelope her as they danced (Lily was dancing with James, who had a condition known as 'two left feet' therefore found it extremely difficult to dance – Lily had to lead) as Lily's favourite music played in the background.

As she danced with Sirius, Isabel wondered why – and she couldn't ignore it any more – she enjoyed being with him more than Jonas. Jonas was the most perfect boyfriend – he was gorgeous, kind, intelligent, caring and he treated her like she was the most special person in the whole entire world. She realised that he was everything you could _ever _wish for in a boy. She realised that she was the luckiest girl in the world having Jonas. He adored her. But – it was inescapable. She couldn't explain it, but every second she spent with Jonas she compared it to the time she spent with Sirius and couldn't help but come up with the answer that she preferred to spend time with Sirius rather than her actual boyfriend. She hated herself for it, but she couldn't stop coming to the same conclusion consistently. She couldn't explain it.

She glanced at the clock. It was twenty minutes to midnight. She had a precious twenty minutes to finish this.

"Sirius, do you want to go for a quick walk?" she suggested. It was the way it always happened – Amanda and Sirius would go for a quick walk, kiss passionately, then she would excuse herself for some reason and he would rush back to the Gryffindor tower, smitten and pleased with himself; she would rush to the nearest bathroom to metamorphose back into Isabel.

He nodded and kissed her lightly on the lips, leading her out of the crowded room.

*

Lily, across the other side of the room, was guiding James – without much success. He was smooth in virtually everything he did, but dancing was not one of them. She had lost count of the amount of times he had stood on her feet (and his feet were not small) and muttered rapid apologies for doing so. If she hadn't have loved him so much, she would have minded. It was definitely true – she was head over heels for James. She was happier than she had ever been, it was magic. During her younger years when he had pleaded that she should go out with him, and she had denied him (her denials often accompanied with many graphic and spiteful insults that Sirius had often found excruciatingly funny), she wouldn't have believed that she would end up the girlfriend of James Potter – willingly.

She glanced to the portrait hole, and saw Sirius leaving with the beautiful curvaceous blonde that the Marauders knew as Amanda – however she knew her truthfully, as Isabel. Perhaps Isabel was going to go and tell Sirius what was really going on. Lily knew that tonight Isabel had drunk the last of her Polyjuice Potion, and unless she brewed some again, couldn't go out again as Amanda. And she thought that was a good thing. Lily Evans was a strong believer in telling the truth.

"I wonder where Sirius is going with Amanda," James said as the song changed and they stopped dancing to get a drink. He took her hand in his as they wandered over to the tables at the side which they had put the food on.

"I'm not sure," Lily replied absentmindedly as she unscrewed the lid of a Butterbeer bottle.

"Certainly not his usual broom cupboard; that thing has dust in it, it's not been used for months!" James laughed. "I think he thinks Amanda is really special. Listen, Lil, I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but Sirius–" he began, but before he could finish, Lily dragged him up the stairs of the boys' dormitories and into James' room, and slammed the door shut. He looked at her slightly uncertainly, raising an eyebrow. "Er, Lil, this is a little bit forward..."

Lily ignored his suggestive comment. "I know that Sirius loves Amanda," she said rapidly.

"How do you know?" James asked incredulously.

"I overheard him saying to you at my sister's engagement party. But I need to tell you something about Amanda – and you must _swear _that you will not tell Sirius," she warned him. James sighed. He told Sirius everything. Sirius was practically his brother – heck, Sirius was his brother in virtually every sense. It would be difficult to keep something from him.

"Must I?" he asked.

"You have to promise you won't tell him, or I can't tell you," Lily replied.

He breathed deeply. "I promise."

When Lily was satisfied that he genuinely meant it and wouldn't tell Sirius, she launched into what she felt needed to be said, as Isabel's secret was eating her up inside and she had to tell somebody. "Amanda doesn't exist – Amanda is Isabel."

"Sorry – _what_?" he said in confusion.

"Amanda is not a real person. The Amanda Catherine Burke that is Sirius' girlfriend who he is in love with is really Isabel. Isabel drank Polyjuice Potion and became this random girl that she bumped into on Platform nine and three-quarters in September. Sirius has been going off meeting Isabel and kissing her, believing she was Amanda," Lily explained.

"Why?"

"She wanted Sirius to stop messing around with all those girls and breaking their hearts," Lily provided.

"Does this have something to do with why she didn't speak to him for months?" James said, the cogs in his brain whirring as he took this shocking revelation in.

"It has everything to do with why she wouldn't speak to him. When she was Amanda, she asked him what he thought of Isabel, of herself. He said that she was his best friend who was a girl, but average and that kissing her would induce vomiting and would feel incestuous. For some bizarre reason, this made Isabel cross with him. I could see why with the average bit, as Isabel is very pretty, but I don't know why she's so upset with the fact that he sees her as nothing more than a friend," Lily told him.

"Maybe there's more behind why she didn't like it. Perhaps she likes him, and just hasn't realised it yet," James suggested.

"But she's going out with Jonas, and she's besotted with him! He's her first boyfriend!" Lily countered.

"Isn't she effectively two-timing him? Why would she two-time on a boyfriend she is apparently utterly besotted with – with the boy who is supposedly her best friend and she feels nothing for? Think about it, Lil, she must want to do it. It probably began as a chore, but developed into something Isabel herself can't explain. She's intelligent, but perhaps her intelligence doesn't stretch to working out how she really feels," James said. Lily blinked, astonished at how deep his words were – and how true-sounding they were.

"But – if Sirius loves Amanda..." Lily said.

"...he loves Isabel, not Amanda. He loves Isabel in a curvy blonde outer shell – he told me that he liked her best for her personality, her sense of humour and her mind, and for once, her looks weren't as important as the person on the inside," James informed her.

"Oh Merlin – Sirius loves Isabel!" Lily gasped.

"And Isabel quite possibly loves Sirius!" James pointed out.

"But neither of them know it yet," Lily said sadly.

*

It was nearly midnight, and nearly the end of Isabel's last hour as Amanda. She had been kissing Sirius on a windowsill overlooking the Quidditch pitch, one of Sirius' favourite places to sit and look out.

"Sirius, I have to go now," she murmured, taking her head off his shoulder.

"But why, love? Can't you stay?" he said, tugging her hand gently.

"No, I can't – I need to go," she protested.

"You're so mystifying," Sirius grinned. "I'll let you go, on one condition."

"What is it?" Amanda smiled at him playfully.

"Kiss me once more," he whispered, and she happily obliged. After a minute or two, they pulled apart. Isabel began to walk away down the hall, in the direction of the nearest bathroom. As she rounded the corner, the large clock in the tower struck midnight, chiming loudly – mingled with Sirius' voice calling after her,

"_I love you, Amanda_."

_

* * *

_

That was a bit of a bombshell, wasn't it? Please review for the next chapter which involves an angry Sirius and a Quidditch accident! Are you glad Sirius and Isabel are speaking again? Have a great holiday and new year,

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	19. Hard Times

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Sorry about the cliffhanger I left you with last chapter, but I updated pretty quickly, I hope! :) Thanks to kitcool, Squid7000, ClaireMarieCullen, vampire-luver101, vanillabean18, Ash Blue, solitaireclay07, Freya-Rhianna and spannieren for reviewing; thanks to Bramble Icedancer, solitaireclay07 and Twistyler for adding my story to your alert subscriptions and thanks to azzycoco, Bramble Icedancer, kitcool and Squid7000 for adding my story to your favourites!! On with the chapter...

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen**

_**Hard Times**_

Sirius Black woke up contented the next morning. He had a little bit of a headache, but that was his own stupid fault as he had drunk the most Firewhisky and Butterbeer out of everybody at Lily's party the night previously. That could be solved though; he quickly performed the spell on himself that rid you of a hangover.

He was perfectly happy – he had told Amanda how he felt about her last night. Admittedly, it hadn't been in the _most _romantic way (shouting after her as she left the corridor couldn't really be classified as romantic) – but he didn't want to do the whole candles and night time thing on the Quidditch pitch that James had done for Lily. He was simple, and he said what he thought. But he was happy with how things had gone. He had never told a girl that he loved her before – probably because no girl had ever made him feel like that before. It was such a cliché – and he wouldn't have imagined himself actually saying that to a girl at the start of the year, as dropping the 'L-word bomb', as he had called it, was something of his nightmares. But now it was a reality, and it was no nightmare. It was a good thing. More than good.

He rolled over, and saw that the other beds in his dorm were empty. They had obviously gone down to breakfast without him, which he didn't really mind, as long as he got his fair share of food.

Suddenly, all thought of wanting to go and talk to Amanda overtook him, and he sat bolt upright and jumped out of his bed. He rushed into the bathroom, took a quick shower and messed about with his hair a bit to make it presentable (he liked it tousled) and dressed in his uniform. He caught a glimpse of his appearance in the mirror as he left – it was the same grinning face, sexily messy hair, glinting grey eyes and perfectly straight teeth looking back at him, but somehow his face looked even more handsome than usual with the happiness that was practically radiating from him.

He smiled to himself and turned to the door – and saw a folded sheet of parchment on the floor, evidently having been pushed underneath it. Written on it was his name in orange loopy writing – he picked it up, bemused. He didn't recognise the handwriting (it was very different to James' often indecipherable scrawl, Remus' small and neat lettering and Peter's large and child-like writing – it was more like Lily or Isabel's, but neither of their writing was as loopy and curly as this, and neither of them would write in orange ink, preferring emerald green and bright turquoise respectively) so opened it.

_My dearest Sirius _(it said)_,_

_I am sorry that I have to do things this way, but it has to be done. I can't explain to you why it has to be like this but it has to be. I know I'm not making much sense – but just let me tell you one thing. I love you, Sirius Black. That much is clear. But I am not who you think I am. For this reason, I have left Hogwarts, and won't be coming back. Who knows, in the far and distant future, we might meet again. But I have to leave. I have been lying to you, Sirius, and I know that honesty is the best policy. Unfortunately I cannot be completely honest with you – but I love you. That is completely and utterly honest and the most heartfelt thing I have ever said. Please don't ever forget that, but move on. You deserve so much more than a girlfriend who lies to you. I am not who you think I am – I cannot say much more but please do not be angry. In time, things will be revealed, but I am sorry for what has happened. I never meant things to end this way. Move on and find somebody ten times better than me who can actually be honest with you and that you can love without lies infecting your relationship. _

_I'm sorry._

_Amanda. _

Sirius blinked at the parchment, not quite sure whether he had read it right. Amanda had just broken up with him. Apparently she had lied to him and wasn't who he thought she was. Apparently she loved him but couldn't be with him because she had lied to him. Apparently he deserved better. Apparently things would be revealed in time. Apparently she had left Hogwarts and wasn't coming back.

Sirius had never felt like this before. He felt rejected, pathetic, sad, upset, disgusted, repulsed and worthless. It was a curious mix of feelings, one which he had never come across before. Then again, he had never come across a girl like Amanda before.

If it was one thing Sirius prided himself on (apart from his hair, Quidditch skills and pranking abilities), it was the way he was honest with everybody about everything. All those girls he had kissed knew they were a quick fling to satisfy his hunger. So finding out that the girlfriend he had boasted to everybody was the most perfect girlfriend anybody could ever had had lied to him repeatedly was making his insides churn in anger. He was furious. Maybe this was why he hadn't previously attached himself to one girl before for very long. They just lied to him, told him what he wanted to hear because he was the famous Sirius Black, good-looking boy of Hogwarts. He was the boy virtually everybody liked (except for the Slytherins) and the boy virtually every girl fancied. He was sick of his womanising reputation. He couldn't believe that one girl could make him feel like this. His appetite felt suppressed – he didn't want food, he wasn't hungry. And Sirius Black never went off his food, ever. He ate more than the average number of meals a day at James' house, and at school nipped to the kitchen between meals for regular sustenance.

He felt sick, he felt numb, he felt angry and he felt valueless.

He wanted Isabel.

*

It had to be done. It just had to be – it was inevitable and it was the right thing.

Isabel paused in copying down the elaborate and detailed Transfiguration notes Professor McGonagall had written on the board regarding human transfiguration, deep in thought.

She had slid the note from Amanda to Sirius under the door of his room once she was sure that the other Marauders were down at breakfast with Lily. She felt terrible – she couldn't believe that she thought her plan was a good idea in the first place.

But now she had messed so much with Sirius and had ended it, she felt like something inside her had died.

She couldn't possibly carry on with Jonas as her boyfriend if she felt like this about her supposed best friend. She was confused – and Jonas just added to her confusion. The most perfect boyfriend any girl could ever imagine for; completely devoted – but she didn't _love _him.

And she had a sneaking suspicion that she loved Sirius.

"That concludes today's lesson – I want eleven inches on the advantages and disadvantages of human transfiguration for Friday," she said sternly as the sixth-year NEWT class hurriedly packed up things – it was now lunchtime so they wanted to get away and relax for an hour before returning to lessons later.

Isabel had been in a stupor all lesson. Luckily there had been no practical work, just making notes, but she hadn't completed the class work – she made a mental note to ask Remus about it later.

She picked up her bag and left the classroom – and instead of walking in the direction of the Great Hall to go and sit with the Marauders and Lily (this was a slightly scary option – she hadn't seen Sirius yet and didn't want to see what sort of state he was in after Amanda broke up with him), she went in the direction of the library, where she knew Jonas would be as he had a free lesson.

Isabel entered the library, and blew a wayward curl out of her face as she scanned the shelves for any view of her boyfriend. After a few minutes of avid searching, she clocked him putting books back up on the shelves by the restricted section, looking gorgeous and tall with his floppy brown hair and relaxed uniform.

He heard her footsteps as her heels clacked on the wooden floor and spun round to look at her, his face breaking into a huge smile when he registered who it was.

"Isabel," he breathed, and went to kiss her, but she hugged him tightly. He frowned slightly – Isabel normally greeted him with a kiss, not a hug. Was something wrong?

"Hey," she replied, "listen – I need to talk to you. Somewhere private."

Jonas took her hand and led her to the back of the library, frowning even more as they walked past the shelves. He had learned that "I need to talk to you" was not a good sign in relationships, especially after your beloved girlfriend had tried purposely not to kiss you and had just given you a brief hug in greeting.

Isabel sat down on a table at the back, and Jonas took a seat beside her.

She closed her eyes briefly before launching into the words she had been struggling to sum up in Transfiguration when she should have been making notes. It was one of the most difficult things she had done – and she sat twice the normal amount of OWLs and was preparing to sit almost three times the normal amount of NEWTs.

"Jonas – you are the most amazing boyfriend a girl could wish for. You're gorgeous, you're kind, you're sensitive, you're caring, you're considerate, you're funny, you're good to be around and you make me feel like the most special girl in the world all the time. And, because of all that, you deserve better," Isabel said.

Jonas cut in. "No I don't! I treat you like you are the most special girl in the world all the time because you are the most special girl in the world. In _my _world," he said sadly.

Isabel squeezed her eyes tightly shut again – this was getting harder by the second. "Honestly, Jonas, you deserve better. No, let me finish," she said, silencing him quickly as he opened his mouth to speak in protest. "You are amazing, and I like you very much. The trouble is – I think that I have in some way been unfaithful and you deserve so much better."

"You've been cheating on me?" he asked in disgust.

"No. Not really – I've been thinking about somebody else far too much and I don't think it's fair for you not to have my undivided attention," she said.

"Can I guess who you've been thinking about?" he asked – without anger, it was more in sadness.

"I don't think it's very fair," Isabel informed him.

"I bet it's Sirius Black, Isabel. To be honest, I'm not surprised. You are made for each other," he said forlornly.

Isabel sighed. "Jonas – you are amazing. You deserve better, and I am so glad for having you in my life. I do like you extremely, but I feel that at the moment, my feelings are confused and that we would be better off as friends."

Jonas smiled at her weakly. "You know, Isabel, even when you break up with me you are nice. Impossibly nice. I think that's why I like you so much. Can we still be friends?" Isabel was astonished that Jonas would still want to be friends with her. Maybe that's why _she_ liked _him_ so much – he was sweet, friendly, caring and considerate and she still wanted him to be part of her life even if they weren't involved romantically. He was a special person – but as she said, her feeling were too jumbled up and stuck into confusion for her to continue being his girlfriend.

"Of course – I'll always want to be friends with you," she said. They hugged briefly. Jonas offered her one more sad, weak smile before leaving. Isabel hugged herself as the tears began to run down her cheeks.

*

Sirius was on the warpath – he had been for the past month and a half – and being a Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, it wasn't the safest position to having him playing in when he was unremittingly angry. James had scheduled a Quidditch practice for that night, and it had been a sorry affair for the sixth years.

James was flying high, having just kissed Lily excessively in the Quidditch changing rooms before coming out on the pitch to tell his team what to do.

Isabel was upset because of what happened with Jonas, and everybody on the team noticed because Jonas always came to her before Quidditch practice to wish her good luck, and she for him. Tonight he hadn't, but her usually shining sapphire eyes were red and puffy, so the Quidditch players didn't mention it.

Sirius was downright furious and kept swinging his bat around regardless of what was near him. He nearly hit Ally Marshall twice (causing Noah Hamilton, who was supporting his girlfriend from the stands, to yell at him angrily) and Max Knightley had had to dodge the beaters several times after Sirius had hit them in his direction carelessly. When he protested to James, James quietly let him in on the fact that Sirius was suffering a severe emotional blow and therefore was taking it out on the bludgers, to which Max replied could Sirius be given charmed footballs instead of bludgers as they were a lot less dangerous.

"Come on everybody, regroup!" James yelled as they tried to fly across the stadium in formation, passing the quaffle.

Sirius kept whacking all the bludgers that Isabel sent towards him around the stadium, and James was getting more and more frustrated with his best friend. He may have been suffering emotionally (if Sirius was even capable of suffering in an emotional capacity) but it was no excuse to be careless on the pitch. Quidditch was everything to James (apart from Lily, who was even more important to him, then second ranked his friends and family – then it was Quidditch) and he didn't like Sirius mucking it up, especially when they had a match coming up against Slytherin which, if they won, would put them in the best position for winning the Quidditch cup.

When the quaffle was knocked out of Fabian's hands for the sixteenth time, James snapped.

"PADFOOT!" he roared. Sirius stopped, and looked at him expectantly. The rest of the team looked at him also.

"Yeah, Prongs?" he asked nonchalantly.

"I want a word with you. The rest of you, practice catching the quaffle whilst flying for a few minutes – look, I know you can do it, but just practice whatever needs practicing, okay?" James said. His team went off to do their thing, and he flew over to Sirius.

"Come to the stands, now," James said forcefully. Sirius followed him lackadaisically, resisting the urge to hit a bludger at the ground.

"What's the problem?" Sirius demanded.

"The problem is that you are being extremely careless and somebody is going to get injured badly with your badly-aimed bludgers! You are supposed to be practicing hitting them with Isabel in that new strategy I devised, not at the other players in taking out your anger against Amanda!" James told him.

"Sorry," Sirius mumbled.

"Look, mate, I know you're annoyed – I understand what you're going through right now – but please be careful. I don't want anybody getting injured. If you want, we'll sneak out to the Hog's Head for my birthday. It's only about a week away," James assured him.

"Alright. Sorry I've kind of been mucking up practice," he apologised.

"It's alright. Now, do you want to continue practicing?"

Sirius was just about to say yes, when there was a huge THUD.

"JAMES!"

Lily's frantic screams could be heard as James toppled off his broom, now unconscious, having been hit on the back of the head by a wayward bludger.

:) x Lily Orange x (:

_

* * *

_

I am sorry about the cliffhanger and the sad chapter but I promise the next one is very happy :) Thanks for reading, please review and have a happy new year!


	20. Forgiven

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _I thought I'd update seeing as I left quite a big cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter - so here it is! Thanks to .limits111, vampire-luver101, sarlovesoccer, Freya-Rhianna, Ash Blue and for reviewing and thanks to balletdklou, DSS Special Agent and GeorgiaPeach20 for adding this story to their alert subscriptions! On with the chapter...

* * *

**Chapter Twenty**

_**Forgiven**_

The third bed along in the Hospital Wing was surrounded by bouquets of flowers, get-well-soon cards, boxes of chocolates and humongous bags of sweets from James Potter's many well-wishers and admirers.

His hazel eyes snapped open as he registered the sunny rays of light infiltrating the gaps in the curtains of the Hospital Wing. He had been in here for almost a week after that bludger had hit him on the back of the head in Quidditch practice, knocked out, and then for ages just recovering. It was so boring and his teachers insisted on sending him work. He still didn't know who had hit that thing – he had been telling Sirius to stop whacking them around like a bloody maniac and Isabel had been throwing the quaffle to Fabian and Gideon Prewett so it was a mystery. However, he was back to normal (though through mild concussion he had accidentally thought that Madame Pomfrey was Lily and tried to kiss her by accident. Madame Pomfrey had screamed and dropped the bed pan on James' head, contributing to a longer stay in the Hospital Wing – Lily had thrown a chocolate frog at him when he recounted the events, and Sirius had laughed so much he nearly wet himself) but Madame Pomfrey insisted on keeping him in for a few more days for observation. James was absolutely fine with this – it was the Easter holidays the day after tomorrow, which he was allowed to leave for.

However, tomorrow would be his birthday, and he had always wanted to throw a party in the hospital wing. It was just one of those things. But he highly doubted that Madame Pomfrey would allow him to throw one in there, even though he was the only patient (the Marauders had a reputation for throwing the wildest and loudest parties which extended even to the teachers of Hogwarts).

He was really bored – the lack of other patients was severely depressing as Lily, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Isabel could only come and see him so many times a day and between them coming, hoards of giggling girls came to see him. Their visits didn't really amount to much – they said "hello", giggled a bit, passed him an excessively glittery and pink get-well-soon card (at last count he had twelve – some girls had been in more than once to catch a glimpse of one of their favourite males in the school), gave him a present (which normally consisted of either a bouquet of overly perfumed flowers, a box of very delicious chocolates or a packet of sweets which Sirius often polished off when he visited), giggled a bit more, stared at him, giggled even more and were then hurried on by Madame Pomfrey.

At the start of his stay, after he had woken up, there had been a Ravenclaw third-year girl by the name of Cynthia Powell (who insisted on being called Cyndi) who was a keen Quidditch enthusiast. James could pass the hours during which his friends weren't there and he wasn't sleeping discussing Quidditch with her – she was also a Tutshill Tornadoes fan so James enjoyed conversing with her very much. Cyndi had been in there for exploding a cauldron full of an unidentifiable potion (she had concocted it herself after completing the required class work) all over herself and turning a nasty green colour which Madame Pomfrey wouldn't allow her to leave the Hospital Wing until it went. She was sent back to her dormitory and lessons on a particularly rainy evening a fortnight ago, so James was extremely bored. Remus had suggested the pile of Muggle classics that Isabel had lent him whilst he was in the Hospital Wing but James could think of more interesting things to do than read books with strange language in them by authors called Lane Postin or Darles Chickens (Isabel corrected him every time he voiced these opinions – apparently it wasn't Lane, it was Jane Austen, and Darles was actually called Charles Dickens. James did not care) – it was just slightly difficult to do them whilst he was confined to the Wing.

"OH JAMESY POO!"

James looked up, and saw the familiar face of his best friend Sirius approaching him with a manic grin on his face. He was glad – Sirius hadn't been grinning much later due to his issues with Amanda, who had now disappeared without a trace – and the manic grin was welcome. Especially as it was usually accompanied by a complete cracker of a plan, in James' opinion. It was the same grin that Sirius had worn before they had pulled that prank on the Slytherins in fourth year where they had dropped a huge vat of melted cheese onto them from three floors above, and when they had created a pond of mashed potato in the Prefects' bathroom. James grinned to himself – good times.

"Glad to see you are awake and FINE AND DANDY! Absolute stonker of a morning, don't you think?" Sirius gabbled cheerfully, sitting himself in the armchair by James' bed which was usually occupied by Lily.

"Yep," James smiled.

"And do you know what would make this stonker of a morning even better? Planning a complete stonker of a party in HERE!" he continued.

"Do you know Padfoot, I think you just read my mind!" James exclaimed, unwrapping a chocolate frog from the large pile on his bedside table. He had had to build a sort of wall around them with get-well-soon cards to keep them from falling off the table, there were so many. It was like a little chocolate frog fortress.

"Well, Poppy won't be very happy with us holding a party in here–" Sirius began, but was interrupted by the arrival of the beautiful, curvy, red-haired Lily Evans.

"Poppy? Who the heck is Poppy?" she asked, swiftly kissing James right in front of Sirius, who made gagging sounds until they had pulled apart.

"Disgusting. Absolutely vile," he said in a choked voice. "Poppy, my dear uninformed Lily, is the first name of the lovely Madame Pomfrey. Anyway, Prongs, Poppy won't let us–"

"Don't you just call teachers by their last names? As a sign of respect?" Lily asked sternly as James entwined his fingers with hers.

"Er, no. Anyway, for the _third _time, Prongs, Poppy won't let us have a party in here, so we're just going to have to hold one anyway without permission. I was thinking tomorrow night, we could have a few agile first years string up a glitter ball and some multi-coloured flags, chuck a bit of glitter about, set up a food table on the beds at the end, bring in my record player..." he said, reeling off a list of directions.

"And how will _Madame Pomfrey_," Lily said, emphasising her correct title, "not walk in on the party? Seeing as her office overlooks the whole Hospital Wing!"

"Ah, my dear Lily, we have our ways," Sirius winked unnervingly, and suddenly jumped up and clapped his hands together. "I have a party to plan! Do you reckon Iz will help me?"

"Izzy is working on a three foot Arithmancy essay, I wouldn't go near her for another hour at least," Lily warned.

"I'm sure she'll do it, for me, if not for my poor invalid friend here. I'll sit up and help her do it all night if necessary," Sirius grinned, and raced out of the Hospital Wing.

"Does that boy put ten teaspoons of sugar in his breakfast cereal?" Lily asked in amazement as James guffawed wildly.

*

Isabel was sat in the room she and Lily shared with Sirius (who had somehow managed to get past the enchanted staircase) who was searching through her wardrobe, looking for a dress for her to wear.

"Sirius, it's no use! I hardly ever wear dresses, I look like a beanpole in them!" she whined to him – half in annoyance, half in amusement at his determination for her to dress up for James' party, which she had helped him plan for all day.

"Don't worry, Iz, you always look like a beanpole," he assured her as he pulled out a fitted midnight blue strapless prom dress. "How about this?"

"It belongs to Lily," Isabel told him.

"So? You borrow each other's stuff all the time," he shrugged.

"It won't fit me!" she protested.

"Like I said: you borrow each other's stuff all the time," he reiterated slowly.

"Look, Sirius, it'll fall down on me, Lily has a much bigger chest than I do – mine is practically non-existent – so it'll look stupid!" she moaned.

"I'm sure you'll hold it up, you've curved out a lot in recent months, your chest is not practically non-existent," he scoffed. Isabel stared at him intently.

"Have you been looking at me?" she said accusingly.

"Er, no, um... common knowledge..." he stammered uncertainly.

"It's common knowledge?" she practically shrieked. "No matter what you say, that dress will fall down, as I have not curved out and my chest is practically non-existent!"

"No it isn't!" Sirius yelled back.

"Yes it is – oh Merlin, I can't believe we are having this argument!" Isabel said, flopping back on the bed.

"Just try the dress on, it'll look lovely..." he said in a singsong voice, waving it over her.

She raised an eyebrow at him, but he continued.

"Fine, I'll try the bloody dress on!" she agreed, grabbing it out of his waving hands and shutting herself in the bathroom to get changed. Sirius sang his favourite song to himself quietly as he made himself comfy on Isabel's bed and started to read her copy of the '_Daily Prophet_'.

In the bathroom, Isabel slipped out of her weekend uniform – band t-shirt (this time it was the Beatles), skinny jeans and Converse trainers (today it was banana yellow Converse that were on her feet) – and looked at the dress dubiously. Lily had a gorgeous, curvy, hourglass figure whereas she was much more willowy and doubted that the dress would look good on her. On Lily it would compliment her figure and make her look like a red-haired Marilyn Monroe, but on her it would make her look like a boy in drag.

"Are you nearly done?" she heard Sirius yell through the door.

"Almost!" she called back and unzipped the back of the dress, and stepped into it. It didn't feel too big, and clung to her hips quite nicely. Now posed the problem of doing up the catch at the top and the zip – she tried, in vain, to do it up herself but it was no use.

She popped her head around the bathroom door. "Sirius!" she hissed.

He looked up from the Quidditch League table. "Yep?"

"I need you to zip it up for me!" she asked, blushing all the while. He nodded, and entered the bathroom. She held it up tightly (seeing as the style of the dress prohibited her from wearing a bra, and relied on the fitted top part of the dress which was boned like a corset, she didn't want it to fall down) and he did up the catch and zipped it for her. Surprisingly, it felt good. It wasn't tight, and it wasn't too big. It felt just right. She twisted round to show Sirius – who instantly beamed at her.

"You look great in that dress," he breathed.

"Thanks – it doesn't look too big?" she fretted, not letting go off the top part yet.

"Iz – you can let go, it won't fall down!" he laughed. Timidly, she prised her hands off the top of the dress and found that it stayed quite comfortably.

"Is this really okay for James' party?" she asked concernedly. Due to the fact that they would struggle to get many more people in the Hospital Wing than the Marauders, Lily and Isabel, Sirius had made the executive decision that they had to dress up formally – hence the reason why he was forcing Isabel into Lily's sexy dark blue dress.

He himself was wearing the same black suit that he had worn to Petunia's engagement party with the same red tie. It looked very good on him, with his sexily tousled hair and audacious smile.

"We'd better be getting down to the Hospital Wing then," Sirius sighed, glancing at Isabel's clock.

"Okay," she obliged, slipping her feet into a pair of silver gladiator sandals that matched the dress quite nicely.

They walked in a comfortable silence to the Wing. Lily, Remus and Peter were waiting outside – as were a couple of first-years who had been roped into stringing up the glitter ball and multicoloured flags. Sirius had managed to persuade them into helping; it wasn't exactly hard – a charming smile and a chocolate frog each had convinced them.

"So how exactly do you propose to keep Madame Pomfrey out of the party?" Lily asked.

"Well, it's late, so she'll be in her office and won't get out unless James wants something – which he won't because he's due to leave tomorrow morning – so as long as the right spells are cast, she will not hear or see a thing of what's going on," he grinned mischievously.

"The right spells?" Peter asked in a worried voice – then again, a cheese sandwich could make Peter Pettigrew anxious.

"Yes, my dear friend. Watch and learn," Sirius said cockily, and stepped into the Hospital Wing. Sure enough, Madame Pomfrey was in her office, sorting through some papers. Sirius pointed his wand at the office, and uttered the incantations quietly; slowly, the curtains in her office windows drew themselves and just for good measure, he whispered, "_Muffliato_", so none of the wild partying sounds would escape.

"Clever," Remus grinned, entering the Wing behind him. "I suppose now you can shout as loud as you want and she won't hear you?"

"Of course," he replied, then turned to the first-years he had recruited for decorating the place by use of his charming smile. "Could you put the stuff up for me? Thanks."

The girls quickly strung up the flags and levitated the glitter ball to the ceiling so that it finally had the party feel, and set down Sirius' record player and record collection near James' bed. James was grinning like a madman as Peter put down all the food they had smuggled from the kitchens down.

"So are we going to party then?" James asked, and Sirius put some music on and they began to dance wildly (Sirius ended up knocking a curtain rail over which crashed to the ground in his enthusiasm) – Lily helped James up and he tried to join in, but she wouldn't let him so slow danced with him for a bit even though Sirius had put on a really fast song.

"LET'S PARRRRTY! LIKE IT'S PRONGSY'S BIRTHDAY!" Sirius bellowed, choosing to dive onto the floor, and by some ridiculous fluke, skid underneath all the beds and jump up at the other end, howling, "Oh bloody Merlin did you see that? Did you _see_ that? Pure skill!"

"IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" James yelled, swinging Lily round (who hurriedly reminded him that, although it was his birthday and this was indeed a party, he was supposed to be taking it easy).

"IT'S PRONGS' BIRTHDAY! WHOOP WHOOP DE DOO!" Sirius yelled. Isabel marvelled at how much energy her best friend had. It was quite surprising.

"Dear Merlin, he has had a sugar overload," Remus whispered to her. She giggled.

"When has Sirius ever _not _had too much sugar in his bloodstream?" she replied, helping herself to some cake.

The little crowd of teenagers partied hard (well, as hard as you could in a restricted space that happened to be a Hospital) for a couple of hours, and, at midnight, when they were getting slightly tired (Peter was already asleep on the floor underneath a random bed) there was a tapping sound, much like the tapping sound in the library when James was trying to get Lily to finish her homework. They could recognise it, so looked up to the large windows. A familiar owl was tapping on the glass.

"Oh Merlin, Alethia!" Isabel breathed as she rushed forward to let her owl in. There was a large piece of parchment tied to her foot, written in what looked like her mother's handwriting.

Whilst the others sat themselves down on the beds and finished off the remnants of the food (not that there was much left after Sirius and James had been at it all evening), Isabel seated herself in an armchair that, for some strange reason, was in the middle of the floor, and began to read.

_Dearest Isabel,_

_We hope that you are well (that is, your father and I) and that you haven't forgotten what is happening in just over a week. It's your seventeenth birthday, sweetheart! We are sure that you are very excited and raring to get back as your Easter holidays start soon, but we wanted to remind you of the invitation for your friends to come and stay with us for the duration of the Easter holidays and over your birthday, as, in Montague family tradition, a ball is held for coming-of-age. So therefore we will be holding a ball in honour of your birthday for the family and any friends you wish to invite. Your Auntie Lou and Uncle Philippo are coming with Alessandra, Fiorella and Sienna from Italy for the occasion. How about you invite Lily, and then that boy you speak about so often – Sirius, is it? And Lily's boyfriend James, and the two other boys you sometimes speak about. You can invite more people if you like, it's your birthday sweetheart so we want you to have the people there that you want to be there, not under our request. We wanted to check this by you first before we invited them but your father was wondering whether you'd like to invite his work colleague's family, the Sandersons – I know you get on well with their son, Isaac – and he works with the father of somebody I believe you know very well; are at all acquainted with a Jonas Carmichael? Your father works with his dad, who says that Jonas talks about you very often. You can invite him too, if you want, honey. Just let us know as soon as possible who you would like to invite (and if the Sandersons and Carmichaels are welcome) and who is coming with you for the Easter Holidays. _

_See you soon dear,_

_Love Mum and Dad_

"Have any of you got plans for the Easter Holidays?" Isabel asked, turning to her weary friends. "You could perhaps come to mine for my birthday..."

Her suggestion was met with a lot of synchronized nodding in acceptance.

_

* * *

_

I hope you like the ending to the chapter - the next one is really long and is the beginning of their adventure to Isabel's house! Please, please, PLEASE review like crazy and make my year :) I'll post the next one tomorrow morning if you like! Have a happy new year,

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	21. A Change Of Scenery

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Aw, thank you for all the reviews! Thanks to Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl, vanillabean18, Squid7000, sarlovesoccer, , .limits111, stewart02, Stephie Cat-Kat, LittleRed22, EllieBaby, vampire-luver101, xolunaxx, DSS Special Agent and ClaireMarieCullen for reviewing (thanks to everybody who reviewed multiple times) and thank you to Legolassss for adding my story to your favourites! It's New Years Eve!!! :)

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One**

_**A Change of Scenery**_

The little group of five teenagers trundled out of King's Cross station slowly, pulling along heavy trunks and, in the case of the curly-haired brunette girl, a cage containing a rather agitated owl. The girl looked pretty agitated herself and kept trying to calm her owl down, but to no avail. The hooting owl was drawing more and more attention to the teenagers – the three boys found it rather amusing, as did the red-haired girl, but the brunette was blushing more and more at the strange looks she was receiving from the people using the Muggle trains who knew nothing of Owl Post.

"Alethia, shut up!" she hissed, pulling her suitcasealong with great difficulty. The owl just hooted in response.

"I don't think she wants to shut up, Iz," the tallest boy, who was extremely handsome with shoulder-length dark curly hair, said, grinning charmingly. Several girls – and indeed middle-aged women – were watching this good-looking boy with much interest as he strolled past them confidently.

"Well she'd better damn shut up!" Isabel retorted, causing her friends to laugh. "It's not funny! She's always like this!"

"Maybe you should let her fly ahead?" the red-haired girl suggested, who was manoeuvring her own suitcase whilst concurrently holding the hand of the messy-haired, hazel-eyed, tall (but not quite as tall as the first boy), handsome (but not quite as handsome as the first boy), bespectacled boy who appeared to be her beloved boyfriend.

"Fine," Isabel agreed, and opened the door to her owl's cage and Alethiaflew free, soaring above the London skyline. "Have you all got everything?"

Her friends nodded, and Isabel led them over to the car park, in which was parked a dark green car with a strange emblem on the side, entwined letters saying 'M.O.M.' – Isabel's father had hired them a car from the Ministry of Magic to take his daughter and her four friends – Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin – to their house on the Cornish coast. Her father, who worked at the Ministry, apparated to and from work, but none of them had taken a test and were only just starting apparition lessons after Easter.

As soon as they were in the vicinity of the car, a driver jumped out and immediately put the trunks and the empty owl cage in the boot, and opened the car door for them to jump in. Lily and James sat in the front two seats together, smiling at each other adoringly, and Sirius, Isabel and Remus sat in the back three seats.

"So – you live on the Cornish coast, with no neighbours, right next to the beach, overlooking a beach, which we were planning to turn nudist–" Sirius grinned.

"_You _were planning to create a nudist beach," Isabel corrected him swiftly, "but we won't be joining you."

"Yeah, we don't want to engage in your sick little fantasises Padfoot," James smiled wickedly from the front seat.

"Oh it's not a fantasy – it's going to be a reality!" Sirius informed them assuredly.

"Not if I can help it," Isabel warned him.

"So is it like a cottage sort of thing you live in?" Sirius asked inquisitively. Lily turned round, her large emerald eyes as wide as saucers.

"_Cottage_? No, it's a c–" Lily tried to tell him, but Isabel quickly cut across her.

"Sort of, yeah," she said. Lily looked at her strangely, scrutinizing her facial expression, but Isabel just shot her a meaningful glance. The boys were oblivious to this, and were just thinking about how it was getting slightly warmer and they might be able to spend time on the beach by her house.

Ten minutes later, Sirius tapped the driver on the shoulder and said, "Are we there yet?"

"No, we are not, sir," the driver replied politely. Isabel guessed that Sirius liked being titled as "sir," as he asked the same question repeatedly until they were about fifteen minutes from the village near the coast, which was relatively near to her home.

"Are we there yet?" he asked.

"Actually, Sirius, we kind of are," Isabel informed him and he grinned like all his birthdays and Christmases had come at once. It had been a long drive, and the weather was heating up slightly, so it was very warm in the car.

They were driving along a quiet road which had leafy green trees hanging about it, almost like a natural tunnel. Isabel had been under this tunnel many times – and so had Lily, as they often walked under it together when Lily came and stayed with her in the summer. Isabel knew that once they exited this tunnel, they would have to drive down a slight hill into the village: a pretty place full of neat little houses decorated with items from the sea such as driftwood, shells and little rocks; her home would be visible up on the cliffs from the village and then they would have to drive round a windy road to get to the top. It was quite easy to walk into the village from her home – but it was about five miles or so. It looked relatively close when you viewed it from the top of the hill at the end of the tree tunnel, but it wasn't. The beaches at the base of the cliffs by Isabel's home were always empty because it was far from the town, you'd maybe get the occasional walker there. This wasn't something Isabel complained about, as it meant it was nice and private. She usually spent all of her time down on the beach when she was home – when Lily was there, they would sunbathe, build sandcastles (like the young sophisticates they were) and play in the sea. Sometimes Isabel's cousins would come, and they would play in the sea all day, shrieking, splashing and having fun. Isabel could remember many good times in the sea at the base of the cliffs.

When she was eleven, the summer before she entered Hogwarts, her Auntie Lou and Uncle Philippo came to visit from Italy with Alessandra, Fiorella and Sienna (who were then six, four and two years old respectively) and they all went down to the beach, Isabel's parents and her auntie and uncle sat on deck chairs in the shade, watching Isabel play with her little cousins. Isabel and Alessandra had helped Fiorella learn to swim, and Isabel swam out with Sienna on her back.

When she was fifteen, Lily had come to stay and they had set up towels on the beach to sunbathe – they were in their bikinis and everything when an extremely good-looking boy from the village had walked past and smiled at them. She and Lily had spent all night talking about it, analysing his actions, facial expressions and what he'd said (a mere "Hello,") and whether it meant that he liked them or not.

Later that summer, her cousins, the twins Will and Ollie, had visited and they had buried Isabel in sand, except for her face, when she had fallen asleep. That had been funny – especially when she chased them up the beach asking them for a hug.

Isabel had happy memories of her home – and as they reached the end of the tree tunnel, she widened her sapphire eyes to catch the first glimpse of it. It was almost like trying to catch a glimpse of Hogwarts in first year – but for some reason, Isabel's actual home felt like her second home in comparison to Hogwarts. She had loving parents, a large bedroom containing a comfy bed and a beach she had practically to herself but Hogwarts was where her friends were and where she looked forward to being. Hogwarts was where Lily was, where James was, where Remus was, where Peter was. Hogwarts was where Sirius was.

Suddenly, the sunlight blinded the teenagers as the trees stopped and they were at the top of the hill looking out onto the village. They could see the sea clearly, glittering in the spring light, shimmering under the cloudless sky. And on a hill which looked quite far away behind the village, was Isabel's home.

"Wow!" Sirius grinned as he looked down at the cute little village – he presumed that Isabel lived in the village.

"I don't live there, Sirius, I live on that hill over there," Isabel said, pointing to the structure on top of the hill – a huge turreted castle made out of brown and grey stone, weathered by the sea. It was built into the cliffs and looked dark and foreboding – though simultaneously stimulated much excitement amongst the teenagers.

"Bloody hell!" Sirius said in shock. He was counting on her living in a little cottage, surrounded by flowers and a vegetable patch. Not a full-blown ancestral castle overlooking the sea!

"Do you like it?" Isabel asked anxiously. Lily was the only one who had seen it before and actually knew about it. She had led her other friends to believe that she lived in a little house on top of the cliffs.

"I bet it's so interesting to live in a castle, I bet it's full of family history," Remus assured her. Isabel hugged him thankfully.

Sirius snorted. "Trust Remus to think of the academic side of things – why didn't you tell us, Iz? It's amazing! I'd loveto livein a castle – well, I sort of do with Hogwarts – but when you're older you'll get to livein a place like Hogwarts! How amazingly awesome is that? I wish I'd grown up in a castle. Well, anywhere was better than number twelve, Grimmauld Place," he finished grimly.

"It's brilliant, Isabel," James said. She smiled at them all as the car descended the steep hill, driving on the windy road through the village, past the post office, the fruit and vegetable shop, the surf shop, the fish and chip shop ("Aw, Iz, can we go there later?"), a Muggleprimary school, plenty of little houses, a bakery, a butchers and a patisserie. Sirius was particularly eager to try out all the food-related shops, but his friends shushed him as they left the village and drove onto the road that would take them, admittedly a rather long way round, up the cliffs and to Isabel's home.

"So how many bedrooms does this place have?" Remus asked interestedly as the castle sat ominously on the cliffs, towering over the little Ministry of Magic hired car.

"Fifteen," Isabel said automatically, "and they're all going to be filled for the ball my parents insist on holding for me."

"Wow," James smiled.

"Isn't it magical?" Lily beamed at him. She remembered when Isabel confessed to where she lived to Lily just before the summer between first- and second-years, when Isabel's parents had invited Lily to stay for a week and Lily's parents had invited Isabel to stay.

"_It's going to be so exciting!" Lily gushed, clutching the letter her parents had sent her with the invitation for Isabel to stay for a week within its contents – it also said about Petunia had a new boyfriend or something, and that she had passed a Geography exam with flying colours, and that her dad had bought a new lawn mower. Lily had had friends at her Muggleprimary school – she had had three best friends, three girls, Mollie, Danielle and Emma – but they had lost touch so she doubted that she would be seeing them over the holidays. Anyway, Petunia was close friends with Danielle's older sister Heather so had no doubt spread a rumour that Lily was at a school for "freaks", as she so nicely put it. _

"_I know," Isabel beamed at her – she had also had an invitation from her parents for Lily to stay for a week. Isabel was best friends with Lily – after Lily it was Sirius. She didn't think that her parents would be very willing to have Sirius to stay as he belonged to a very old pureblood family that were heavily into the Dark Arts and were very against Muggle-borns being allowed into Hogwarts. Isabel decided that she would haveto explain that Sirius was nothing like them – for one thing, everybody else had been in Slytherin in his family. Sirius, much to the annoyance of his family (he was sent a Howler every day for a week afterwards), had been sorted into Gryffindor – something he was immensely proud of. _

"_You can share my bedroom – we have a spare room but we can put the bed in mine so that we can have one long sleepover!" Lily said excitedly._

_Isabel gave her a hollow smile. Lily lived in a little cottage in a village known as Spinner's End – though Lily lived on the nice side by the forest, not the side by the river. Lily hadn't said that she lived in the nice side in so many words, but it was implied; Lily's friend Severus Snape lived by the river, and, judging by the dilapidated condition of him and his possessions and what people had said, the river wasn't as nice as the forest. No doubt Severus would be around some of the week – Isabel presumed that Lily found comfort in a magical friend, considering the horrible way Petunia treated her. Severus practically worshipped the ground Lily walked on, hung on to her every word and would do anything for her. The only thing that concerned both Lily and Isabel (and the Marauders, especially James, who was trying – and failing – to prove that he was the right man for Lily, even at the tender age of eleven) was that Severus Snape was a Slytherin. It wasn't so much that he was a Slytherin, it was the people he inevitably hung around with _because _he was a Slytherin. Avery and Mulciber were already detestable creatures who Isabel had a vehement dislike for – they had called Lily a "mudblood" more than once that year. _

_Isabel didn't live in a cottage – Isabel lived in an ancestral castle on the Cornish coast. Whenever the others discussed their homes, Isabel was very vague. She didn't want people to think she was showing off – the Willoughbyslived there becauseit was passed down through her mother's side of the family, and none of her siblings had wanted it. It wasn't because they were rich – they were quite well-off, but not rich, per se– but Isabel thought that to somebody else it would appear that way. But if Lily was coming to stay, then Lily would have to know where exactly Isabel lived. _

"_Lily – I live in a castle," Isabel said slowly. Lily blinked at her, then her mouth widened into an impossibly large smile._

"_Really? Oh Merlin, that is so cool! Are there any ghosts? Could you give me a guided tour? Are there secret passages?" she had rambled. Isabel smiled. _

The car drew to a halt in front of a large oak door in the outer castle wall. The ministry driver looked at Isabel quizzically. She grinned – "You can leave us here. I have a key," she told him. He unloaded their suitcases and the empty owl cage, and began the long drive back down to the village. The road up the cliffs was a steep, winding one which had rendered Remus slightly queasy but Sirius had loved it and asked the driver many questions about whether this would be the same on a motorbike.

"So where's this key?" Sirius asked.

Isabel fished her hand in her little shoulder bag and produced a large, old-looking brass key with an ornate design at one end.

"There's no lock on the door," James pointed out helpfully.

"It's a magic lock," Isabel told him.

"Is it a magic key?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"Yep," Isabel answered.

"Can I do it? Can I?" Sirius pleaded, jumping up and down on the spot like a jack-in-a-box.

"I suppose," she said, amused, holding out the key. He took it, then turned back to the locklessdoor. "And I suppose you want some help?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Right, you tap on the door three times with your wand above the door handle," she told him. Sirius did just that. A lock materialized out of nowhere. "Now, you just put it in the hole and it sucks it in."

Sirius poked around at the lock, trying to find it. "I can't find the hole!"

"There it is," Isabel pointed out exasperatedly, slightly regretting agreeing to let Sirius try and unlock the door. At this rate they would be here all night.

"Hang on, it won't fit in the hole – I don't think this is the right hole!" he moaned as he tried to shove the key into the lock without success.

"There's only one hole!" Isabel cried as James, Lily and Remus chuckled at Sirius' efforts to open the door.

"Aha, I knew I could get it in!" Sirius beamed at her as the key dissolved into the lock and the door swung open. They pulled their suitcases through the door and they were now in the castle gardens. Facing them was the main castle building, which had a courtyard and fountain in the middle. To get into that, where all the bedrooms and everything were, you had to go over a little moat which surrounded the colossal building via a drawbridge. Isabel was intelligent enough not to let Sirius attempt to do this and did it herself, and soon they were in the courtyard – and were met by Mr and Mrs Willoughby, Isabel's parents.

The Marauders and Lily wouldn't have been lying if they said that Isabel was a complete mix of her parents. Her chocolate brown hair was exactly the same shade as her father's, whose hair showed no signs of greying, something he was very pleased about as his wife's honey-coloured hair was liberally streaked with silver. Isabel's corkscrew curls were inherited from her mother, who was, no other word could describe it: glamorous. Isabel shared her mother's sapphire blue eyes and her father's skinny frame, though as Sirius had previously assessed, she was beginning to curve out and echo the curvaceous figure of her mother.

Isabel hugged both of her parents tightly – she always missed them when she was at school.

"Isabel, are you going to do the introductions?" her mother asked expectantly, though not in an unkind way. Her delicately lined face was creased into a warm smile.

"Of course," Isabel winked at Sirius, who smirked. "Mum, Dad, you know Lily," – Isabel's mother hugged Lily like she was a niece she rarely saw – "this is James Potter," – James grinned and shook the hands of both of Isabel's parents; he then returned to holding Lily's hand discretely but Isabel's mother smiled, as she had heard Lily talk about James and his frequent attempts of winning her heart often – "Remus Lupin," – Remus copied James' polite gesture of shaking the hands of both parents – "and Sirius Black," Isabel finished.

"Oh, so this is the famous Sirius Black?" her father asked as Sirius shook his hand firmly.

"I assure you, Mr Willoughby, I am nothing like the rest of my family. They'vedisowned me and I live with Prongs– er, I mean, James now," Sirius promised him.

"I didn't mean it like that, Sirius. Isabel writes about you in all of her letters," he said kindly. Sirius turned to Isabel, raising an eyebrow cockily. She tried to stop herself, but she blushed.

"Shall we go inside then?" Isabel's mother suggested, saving her daughter from further embarrassment.

The teenagers lugged their cases through another door and into a hallway.

"Leave them down here, they'll be taken up later," Mrs Willoughby said. "Isabel, do you want to show them to their rooms? We'll be putting the finishing touches to dinner."

Sirius' eyes lit up at the mention of "dinner" and couldn't stop grinning as Isabel led them through a maze of corridors to a grand staircase. They went up it, past the first floor and the second floor and then into the third floor – which seemed to be like an attic.

"Isabel, you live in a castle and you're making us sleep in the attic?" James grinned.

"Well, there are two bedrooms up here. One is mine and the other is Lily's when she comes to stay, but I thought that we should be next door to each other, especially when the rest of my family descends upon us next week," Isabel told them.

Sirius, James and Remus entered their bedroom, and found a large room with a sloping ceiling and big windows looking out to sea, containing three single beds with red and gold embroidered duvets. One wall was the original stone of the castle and the others were painted a crimson colour which matched the duvets and they were covered with moving portraits. There was a large wardrobe for them, and when James opened the doors, he happily exclaimed, "It's like the Narnia wardrobe!"; and proceeded to shout into the wardrobe, as if expecting a reply, "Mr Tumnus!"

Lily and Isabel were sharing Isabel's room – the same size as the boys' room, with large windows presenting spectacular views of the ocean. Underneath she had created long window seats with blue velvet and silver mirrored cushions, the same cushions that were littering the huge king-sized bed (Lily also had a king-sized bed, but hers was covered with emerald cushions and an emerald bedspread rather than Isabel's sapphire-coloured accessories). Many framed photos of Isabel, Lily and the Marauders decorated the walls (painted sapphire blue) along with family photos. Isabel's large stuffed toy, a soft sheep with the name of Woolly, sat on her pillows.

"Do you reckon we should take the boys down to the sea this evening?" Isabel asked, glancing out of the window. It was just beginning to get dark as it was half past six – dinner would be ready around half past seven, so it would definitely be dark then.

"Why not – though we need to make sure that Sirius doesn't turn it into a nudist beach," Lily laughed as she pulled on her jumper. Though it had been quite sunny today, the air had turned bitter cold so the girls sensibly decided to layer up before leaving the house.

"We'd better knock on the door, Merlin knows what they're doing in there!" Isabel smirked as they crossed the short landing to the boys' room. As soon as she knocked it, Sirius opened it.

"Yes?" he asked in a very businesslike voice.

"Hi Sirius – do you want to go down to the beach with us before dinner?" Isabel asked.

"Before dinner?" he said, shocked. "I don't think that's going to work. Couldn't we go after?"

"When I said, 'do you want to come down to the beach with us before dinner', I meant, 'you are coming down to the beach with us before dinner'," she grinned.

"I suppose – hey, can we start up that nudist beach?" Sirius winked. Lily and Isabel rolled their eyes as Remus and James came and joined them on the landing.

"No," the answer was chorused back to him.

"Spoilsports," he muttered as they wandered down the stairs and out into the courtyard. Isabel led them back over the drawbridge (ignoring Sirius' offers to help her operate it. After the fiasco with the key in the main door, she wasn't letting him do it again) and into the castle gardens. Instead of walking out of the large oak door they had entered by, they walked through the flowers and plants to a tower on the back wall facing the sea. There were no doors to go through now, but there was a winding spiral staircase to descend in order to get down through the cliff onto the sand.

Isabel had walked this staircase many times – but the darkening sky, chilly air and whistling noises of the ocean were making it eerie. Added to that, there wasn't much light apart from that of Sirius, James and Lily's wands (Remus and Isabel weren't of age yet) – Isabel had never really been one to have fears, but the combined conditions were putting her on edge. Her breathing quickened as they walked down the staircase. When they were about halfway down, she stopped briefly to catch her breath, feeling vulnerable in the low light. Somebody's hand was placed on her shoulder, a warm, comforting hand that felt like it was guiding her. She felt safe as she continued to clamber down. The staircase was a long one, and finished in a cave eroded into the bottom of the cliffs. Luckily, this wasn't filled with the water and there was still a wide enough strip of sand to walk on out of it.

Isabel breathed in the cool oceanic air as they walked out of the cave and onto the beach. The crescent moon glinted in the night sky and the stars were beginning to twinkle.

"It's beautiful," Lily concluded as the five teenagers stood speechless.

"Can we go in?" Sirius and James requested simultaneously.

"It's freezing!" Remus pointed out in a tone that quite clearly said 'my-friends-are-completely-bonkers'.

"So? What's life without a little adventure?" James smiled roguishly.

"You can go in, but if you freeze, it's not my fault!" Isabel said. The two boys raced each other across the sand into the ocean – which, as Remus so accurately predicted, was of a sub-zero temperature.

"MERLIN'S PANTS!" James yelled, causing Lily to laugh uncontrollably as they hopped about in the sea, trying to find a bit that was warm.

"I despair of them," Remus said, shaking his head.

"It's mutual," Isabel chuckled.

"Are you coming in?" Sirius hollered to them.

"You think we're coming in after you've just told us that it's bloody glacial in there?" Isabel called back, hugging herself to keep warm.

"Of course you are," he said slyly, and then, with a quick look at James and a nod, they ran forward, catching her unawares as they picked Isabel up and ran full pelt towards the sea.

"No! No! _Put me down_!" Isabel screeched as she writhed in their arms. They stopped when they were standing ankle deep in the water.

"You want us to put you down?" Sirius asked innocently.

"YES! No, no, I MEANT NO! _Sirius Black if you drop me in the water_! NO!"

"Sorry, we take first answers only," Sirius apologised and dropped her in the water.

"AAARRRGGGHHHH! OH MY MERLIN!" she shrieked as the water attacked her like icy daggers – her jeans and jumper soaked through, sticking to her slim body. Sirius and James howled with laughter.

"You think this is funny, do you?" Isabel roared. Then she had an idea. "I suppose it is," she conceded.

"Oh bloody Merlin it's flipping hilarious! You crack me up!" Sirius gasped between laughs.

"You are priceless," James agreed.

"Yes, yes, very funny," she said, grinning to herself wickedly. "Do you want to help me up? I'm kind of freezing my arse off here."

"Okay," they said, reluctantly holding out a hand each to pull her up. Now, Isabel was very tall anyway and in heels was the same height as James, but James and Sirius were big, muscular Quidditchplayers and six foot two and six foot three respectively. Isabel was a skinny five foot ten bookworm – but when she tried, she had a lot of strength, and thus when she grabbed both of their hands, they were pulled forwards and into the water, soaking them to the bone. Now it was Isabel's turn to laugh – and they could hear Lily and Remus chortling on the beach as their three best friends sat in the freezing cold water.

"How did you do that?" Sirius gasped, wiping his sopping wet hair out of his handsome face.

"It's my Quidditch muscles, _baby_," she said, batting her long eyelashes, the picture of innocence.

"Don't rip off my lines!" he scowled, then splashed her with the water.

"ARGH! BLOODY MERLIN!" she screamed.

"Watch your language, dear," he smiled as James turned to Lily and Remus.

"Come in the water, it's lovely and refreshing!" he tried to persuade them. Remus raised an eyebrow as Lily glanced at the water tentatively.

"You might as well because you know that we're just going to pull you in if you don't get in willingly," Sirius shouted. Lily shrugged and tiptoed into the water, practically falling over in shock as the iciness hit her.

"Don't worry Lil, I'll keep you warm!" James assured her.

"Who'll keep me warm?" Isabel protested.

"I will!" Sirius said chivalrously, and wrapped his wet arms around her, making her even wetter than before.

"So who's going to keep me warm?" Remus asked.

"Sorry Moony," James apologised.

"Oh that's just great," Remus sighed. "Nobody to keep me warm on this cold winter–"

"Spring," Isabel corrected as they watched Remus' 'poor me' speech in amusement.

"On this cold _spring _night," he whined.

"Do you like anybody at the moment Moony?" Sirius asked inquisitively. "Perhaps we could conjure them up and they could keep you warm!"

"There's girls at school, but I don't really like to get involved with anyone," Remus said softly.

"And why not? Lots of girls would love to go out with you," Lily told him truthfully. She knew – she overheard a lot of conversations in the girls' toilets. Remus was quite a favourite of the Hogwarts girls.

"I have my reasons," he said imprecisely.

"Remus, if this is about the fact that you are a werewolf, Lily and I figured it out in second year. It doesn't matter, it's not your fault," Isabel said soothingly.

"You figured it out? How?" Remus asked, perplexed.

"Lunar charts, you disappearing, visiting your sick mother, aunts, etcetera," Isabel provided.

"And we also know about you two and Peter being illegal animagi," Lily said sternly, turning to her boyfriend and Sirius.

"Once again – how?" Remus questioned them.

"You left some library books open on the table once when we were in there about animagi, you disappear with Remus every full moon, and your nicknames," Lily told them.

"You girls are more intelligent than we give you credit for," James smiled.

"So Remus, if a girl is bothered about your lycanthropy then it's their prejudiced problem!" Isabel said. They seemed to have forgotten now that they were all sat in the sea and had become accustomed to the temperature. Lily was sat on James' lap, his arms wrapped around her protectively, Isabel was sat next to Sirius, him hugging her tightly, and Remus was sat in the middle, twiddling his thumbs.

"Anyway, Moony my baboony, you have a secret admirer – well, a not-so-secret admirer," Sirius said, winking like he had a nervous twitch.

"For the last time Pads: I don't have an admirer!" Remus informed him.

"Who's this?" Isabel asked interestedly, a grin materializing on her face.

"Don't encourage him..." Remus warned, but nobody heeded his warning.

"My cousin's daughter is utterly in _love _with Remus," Sirius said, grinning evilly.

"Your cousin?" Isabel asked sceptically – Sirius' cousins were Bellatrix and Narcissa Black, two people Isabel could not stand. Bellatrix was dark, harrowing, tough and always ready for a fight or duel; Narcissawas as pale as her sister dark, immensely beautiful but in a kind of disturbing hollow way – she was conniving, manipulative and nasty.

"Not Narcissa or Bellatrix – Andromeda," Sirius informed her. "Andromeda married Ted Tonks, a muggle-born, therefore automatically got burned off my mother's family tree – like I am now," he said proudly, "and they have a little girl who is, what, seven? She's obsessed with Moony. Andromeda and my Uncle Alphard are the only people I keep in touch with from my family, the ones who don't engage with the dark arts or torturing people. Anyway, the little girl is a Metamorphmagus and her hair always turns bubblegum pink when she sees Moony. We sometimes babysit her in the holidays for a little extra cash, and Nymphadora – though she'll attempt to wrestle you if you call her anything other than 'Dora' or 'Tonks' – is obsessed with Remus. She follows him round and makes him read stories to her."

"Awww," Isabel cooed as Remus blushed.

"Nymphadora Lupin – that's such a pretty name," Lily teased as Remus frantically tried to splash her.

"It's not funny! She's not obsessed with me!" he moaned.

"Ah, denial, the classic first stage," Sirius said, putting on a serious psychoanalytical voice.

"Be quiet you, fake-psychologist person!" he gabbled as everybody else laughed.

They stayed quiet for a few minutes, listening to the calming sound of the waves lapping against the shore.

"We'd better go," Isabel concluded, "dinner's probably ready and we need to dry off, seeing as we all got _extremely wet_," she said, looking meaningfully at Sirius and James, who began to innocently whistle tunes as they made their way back to the caveand the staircase.

"Don't play innocent with me, or there's no pudding," Isabel warned dramatically as she led them up the staircase.

"Okay, I'm sorry, just don't deny me pudding!" Sirius whined.

_

* * *

_

I hope you liked that, it was quite long; don't worry the Sirius/Isabel confession comes along quite soon! Please review for the next chapter which involves a bit of romantic realisation between Isabel and Sirius... have a great new year, thanks for reading!

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	22. Breaking Point

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Thanks to baby blue eyes10, ClaireMarieCullen, .limits111, sarlovesoccer, Squid7000, Flicka200, vanillabean18, DSS Special Agent, ItsNotMeItsYou, Ash Blue and GeorgiaPeach20 for reviewing and thank you to the5city for adding my story to your favourites! I hope you have a very happy new year :) enjoy the chapter and please, please, PLEASE leave a review!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

_**Breaking Point**_

The sun rose into a cloudless sky on the sixth of April, two days before Isabel's seventeenth birthday and party. Today was the day that all of the Montague and Willoughby family descended upon Isabel's home. Mr and Mrs Willoughby had told them the day before that they needed to be up at a reasonable hour (not sleeping in until ten or eleven o'clock, like they had been doing, and then running down to the beach with pockets full of food) to greet everyone. Luckily, they hadn't been asked to contribute towards cleaning the castle – Isabel's home, as it was ancestral, had a house elf. It was a really cute house elf called Libby, who made excellent cakes and Italian dishes. She cleaned the castle, but Mr and Mrs Willoughby had helped, as it was a rather big job for such a little elf.

Isabel had been intent on waking up at a reasonable hour – such as half past seven or eight o'clock. Unfortunately, the boys had had different ideas. Lily and Isabel had been adamant that they wanted to go to bed early but then Sirius had started a game of truth or dare which involved James jumping into the sea half-naked, Sirius climbing down the side of a tower, Isabel eating a sandwich that Sirius had made (a nauseating concoction of baked beans, banana, gravy, cucumber, cheese, chocolate and mushrooms), Lily attempting to do the splits in a very restricting blue skirt and Remus hanging upside down off the curtain rail for half an hour like a bat. Isabel didn't think she had ever laughed so much, but they eventually got to bed at two in the morning and she highly doubted that she would be up and ready to greet her family by nine, which was when they were due to start arriving.

When Isabel did wake up (she rolled off her bed onto the floor, creating a huge bang that not only startled her into waking up but rendered Lily awake too) she looked at her clock and observed that it was a quarter to nine.

"MERLIN! Lils, get up!" she ordered as she sprung up and out of the door in the direction of the boys' room. She hammered on the door, but there was no reply, so she shoved it open and ran inside. They were all still snoozing peacefully on their beds, unaware that they had about fifteen minutes to get ready.

"GET UP!" she yelled at each of them. The only respondent was Remus, who got up, glanced at the time and made a beeline for the wardrobe after shooting an apologetic glance at Isabel. Unfortunately, James and Sirius weren't as easy to wake up.

First she decided to tackle James – she whacked him with a pillow. He rolled over. She sang a Beatles song really loudly in his ear. He grunted. She poked him in his side. He talked (but in his sleep, as he still wasn't awake yet): "Lily, shhh, stop it." Then Isabel decided it was time for drastic action. She gently shook him and said, in a quite accurate imitation of Lily's voice, "Wake up, James. I have a surprise for you!"

Immediately James woke up, smiling madly. Then he saw that it was Isabel.

"Where's Lily?" he demanded.

"Getting dressed – it's nearly ten to nine," she informed him.

"Great, I'll go and join her!" he winked, grabbing some clothes out of his drawer. Isabel tried to stop him but he just barged into her room – luckily Lily was already dressed so James was slightly disappointed, but got changed anyway.

Now was the difficult bit – waking Sirius up. He was not at the best of times a person who woke up on time or even remotely early unless there was something going on to excite him. Guaranteed, he would wake up early on the eighth of April as there was going to be a party. Sirius adored partying – patently obvious due to the amount of parties he had thrown at school already that year. And now, Isabel had about eight minutes during which she had to get dressed and wake him up which would be no easy task. She could fluff up her hair and jump into some skinny jeans, band t-shirt and Converse in mere seconds but it would probably take her longer if she had used all her energy to wake Sirius up.

First she tried the gentle approach – she shook him whilst saying his name. He obstinately swiped the air, narrowly missing Isabel's face.

"You're a stubborn one, aren't you?" she grinned as she shook him harder. Still no response. She shoved him out of the bed and onto the floor – he landed with a loud bang that probably sounded like he was being murdered and severely beaten to an innocent bystander on the floor below. He didn't even move at this. Isabel pondered for a few seconds her ideas of how to get him up – she tickled his feet (this usually worked, apparently James poked them with his wand to get him up as he didn't want to touch them. Luckily for Isabel and standard hygiene, he was wearing socks). She was getting annoyed now. There was five minutes and she herself needed to get ready. She decided to use the same tactic that had awoken James.

"Oi, Sirius, there's naked girls outside on the beach!" she bellowed in his ear. He seemed to twitch in response, a sly smile forming on his face, but he didn't even move. "Oh Merlin, sordid fantasies!" she muttered regretfully to herself. Now, there was no other way to go about it. She ran into the bathroom and filled a bucket with water – she rushed back to Sirius and tipped it over his head.

"AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!" he screamed, the cold water instantly waking him up. Isabel smiled triumphantly.

"Good morning," she said sweetly, "you have about four minutes to get dressed and get downstairs to greet my family."

He just blinked at her and she went to get herself dressed. Deciding to make a bit of an effort, she put on her charcoal skinny jeans with a long turquoise silk top that could easily double up as a mini-dress and slipped her feet into black studded brogues. She quickly fluffed up her hair in the mirror and walked calmly downstairs – amazingly, Sirius was already there, dry and dressed. He smiled at her as she went and stood by her parents, who flanked the fireplace expectantly.

"Who's coming first?" Isabel asked them.

"Your Uncle Richard is coming first with Auntie Joy, Jack and Emmeline – then it's Uncle Tom, Auntie Edith, Caitlin, Erienne and Colin," her mother informed her.

"Okay," she replied. Her friends, upon the invitation of her parents, had seated themselves on the large cushioned sofas. Lily, wearing a loose white top with blue jeans and red ballet shoes, was sat between James and Remus. Sirius sat opposite them by himself, so Isabel joined him.

"Don't think I'll forget about that," he hissed in her ear. She suppressed a giggle.

Suddenly, the flames inside the fireplace rapidly flickered to emerald green and a tall wizard who looked like a more lined version of Isabel's father stepped out. He grinned at the company.

"Uncle Richard!" Isabel exclaimed, standing up to hug her uncle.

"Hello, happy almost birthday!" he said happily as behind him a brunette witch stepped out the fireplace, closely followed by a boy and a girl who looked a couple of years older than Isabel and her friends.

"Hi Jack," Isabel smiled as her twenty-two-year-old cousin patted her on the back. He was a broad-shouldered boy, built like a Quidditch player – which was lucky because he had just been signed by the Appleby Arrows.

"Isabel!" her other cousin, Emmeline, smiled. Emmeline was, at first sight, a relatively plain girl with brown hair and brown eyes. But when she smiled her whole face lit up and she was really quite pretty. She was twenty and was working as a trainee Healer at St Mungo's.

Quick introductions were made of Isabel's friends to her aunt, uncle and cousin, and what seemed like a few moments later (but was actually about half an hour), Isabel's other uncle, Tom, and his wife, Edith, emerged from the emerald flames and hugged the birthday girl eagerly. They were followed by two girls and two boys.

Caitlin was a pretty blonde, the spitting image of her mother Edith, and was almost nineteen, a year out of Hogwarts, and working as a Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet. Erienne was also blonde, but her hair a honeyed shade and her eyes gleaming olive, and was in her seventh year at Hogwarts in Ravenclaw, along with her younger brother Colin, who was a fourth year and a promising Chaser.

Soon the Montague side of the family began to arrive. First her Uncle Fred and Aunt Elise appeared with Hannah and Jade, both Hogwarts graduates, and employees at Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. Then it was her mother's sister Maria with her husband William Darling and their sons, the twin boys, Will and Ollie, who were fourth-year Gryffindors. They got on reasonably well with the Marauders, having played Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap with them on more than one occasion, so they started conversation with them whilst they waited for the last family to arrive.

The Rosettis were taking a portkey from Sorrento in Italy to the spot just in front of the oak door in the outer wall of the Willoughbys' castle. They were due any minute and Isabel couldn't wait to see her little cousins. Alessandra was twelve, already exotically beautiful and feisty; Fiorella was ten, quickly following in her sister's footsteps as being a beauty and very clever; and Sienna was eight, exceedingly smart and quick-thinking.

A few minutes later, Mrs Willoughby went outside to try and help them get in (seeing as Sirius had struggled so much with the lock). Isabel glanced out of the window. The sky was surprisingly clear for an April day, and she wondered whether she, Lily and the Marauders should take all of her cousins – all twelve of them – down to the beach to mess about and play games. There was a little breeze in the air but it was warm in the sun.

"Sorry we're a bit late!" the familiar voice of her Auntie Lou rang out as she and her husband and children entered. She was tanned and had hair like her sister's, slightly streaked with grey also. Her husband was very handsome, but maturely so, and had messy dark hair that echoed James' and Sirius' very much.

Alessandra, Fiorella and Sienna automatically ran forward to hug Isabel lovingly as the family conversed and caught up with one another. About an hour later, Isabel made the suggestion that they all went down to the beach. Jack, Emmeline, Caitlin, Hannah and Jade all said that they would stay with the adults, but Erienne, Colin, Will, Ollie and the Rosetti sisters all agreed that they would come so Isabel, with a little guiding help from Sirius, led them all down the tower through the cliff and into the cave which opened out onto the beach. The Rosettis straight away busied themselves with building a sandcastle, but everybody else sat in a circle on the sand, which was slightly damp but not too bad – the sun was rapidly drying it.

"What shall we play?" Colin asked.

"Can we play my favourite game? Please, Iz, please!" Sirius begged. Isabel was doubtful. She knew _exactly _what Sirius' favourite game was – they had played it the night before until two in the morning – thus she knew that it probably wasn't the best idea.

"What is it?" Erienne asked interestedly.

"Sirius' favourite game is 'Truth or Dare'," Isabel revealed, whilst Sirius grinned manically. "Unfortunately, Sirius delights in thinking up the most ridiculous dares imaginable."

"Sounds good, can we play?" Will requested earnestly.

"Are you joking me?" Isabel blinked.

"Nah, let's play! Who wants to go first?" Ollie inquired.

"Dear Merlin," she sighed as Sirius eagerly volunteered to be first, and that he wanted a dare. James always relished giving Sirius dares – he conferred with the others before selecting him one, but nobody else could think of one that was as comical.

"Okay, what am I supposed to be doing?" he grinned excitedly.

"Well – you see that teenage girl coming this way who's walking a dog?" James asked, pointing to a girl who was indeed walking towards them. Isabel was surprised – nobody ever really came this far up the beach away from the village, especially in this weather when it was quite cold, even if there were patches of sun.

"Yep, I do," Sirius smiled impishly.

"You have to go up to her, introduce yourself and then say, 'I am a sexy beast and I am the sexiest beast in town'," James laughed.

"Easy as pie," Sirius scoffed, jumping up and standing, waiting for the girl to come nearer. Eventually, she was quite nearby and the group could establish that she was a pretty raven-haired girl of about eighteen.

Sirius marched up to her, turned on the charming grin, and then launched into his pre-prepared speech. A few moments later, the girl slapped him indignantly and voiced a threat.

Sirius grinned as he came back to the group and the girl wandered back the way she had come, walking briskly.

"What happened?" Ollie sniggered.

"She said she'd go and get her boyfriend on me," Sirius shrugged. "Nothing to worry about – I've had that threat at least twenty-three times before."

The game continued. Sirius tried to get James to go skinny dipping in the sea but it was prevented by Lily saying that he'd catch cold and Will saying he would be physically sick if he was subjected to that. So he ended up being buried in the damp sand by his friends, who laughed all the while.

Lily was sensible and opted for truth.

"So, Lily, what's the most embarrassing you have _ever _done?" Erienne asked inquisitively.

Lily blushed and dropped her head into her hands despairingly whilst Isabel giggled. "I know what this is," Isabel grinned as Lily shook her head.

"Does it have something to do with me?" James asked cheekily.

"It has _everything_ to do with you," Lily glowered at him playfully.

"What happened?" Colin questioned, thoroughly intrigued. He had seen James' disastrous attempts to attract Lily many times throughout his school years – they had provided, along with pranks coordinated by the Marauders, regular entertainment.

"Well, James decided that he would make a romantic gesture towards me in front of the whole school to prove how much he liked me. I think that was the general idea of it anyway; I walked into breakfast one morning, sat down next to Izzy, and was just buttering some toast when in walks James, dressed in a schoolboy outfit with shorts and a little hat, with this big guitar thing in his arms–" Lily tried to tell them, but was interrupted by James.

"It was a Gibson SG, actually," he pointed out pedantically.

"–with this Gibson SG in his arms, and starts warbling this song which had the dirtiest lyrics I have ever heard – Professor McGonagall had to shut him up halfway through because of the song content and he got three weeks of detention for inappropriate actions," Lily sighed.

"What was the song?" Will smiled wickedly.

"A complete classic – 'You Shook Me All Night Long'," James said reminiscently. The assembled teens howled with laughter, except for Lily, who blushed scarlet.

"You could have picked a more demure song to serenade me with!" she pointed out.

"Be thankful I didn't go with Sirius' suggestion," James reminded her.

"I love that song! It is the best song ever written!" Sirius grinned.

"No it is bloody not," Isabel said.

"Stop leaving us in suspense! What is it?" Will asked.

"It's '_Big B_–" Sirius began, but was hurriedly interrupted by Isabel.

"It's obscene!" she growled.

"I think I know it," Ollie smiled.

"Well if you know it, there's no reason to go shouting the name out, then, is there?" Isabel pointed out.

"Spoilsport," Sirius smirked. "Okay – who's next?"

Just as they were about to think up a dare for Colin, who had bravely volunteered to be subjected by a dare thought up by James and Sirius, Marauder masterminds, Isabel clocked an angry looking boy walking up the beach purposely towards them.

"Er, Sirius – angry boyfriend coming this way!" she warned.

Sirius turned to look at said boyfriend, who had a thunderous look on his face. He frowned slightly, then looked at James apologetically.

"Er, Prongs, you might want to run..." Sirius said.

James looked at him weirdly. "Why would I want to run? You were the one who told her that you were the sexiest beast in town!"

"Um – I kind of told her my name was James Potter..." Sirius said, trying, and failing, to suppress a grin.

"Holy Merlin, you bloody idiot!" James jumped up and sprinted into the cave, whilst the assembled teens shrieked with laughter.

When they had finally gotten rid of the boy – telling him with (relatively) straight faces that there was nobody by the name of James Potter here, and that when they had seen the girl he described as his girlfriend, she had been spoken to by a boy from a rowdy group of lads who had literally just gone. They said that it was despicable that boys felt the need to speak to girls so graphically and the boys present in their group would _never _do that in a million years as they had too much respect for women. Sirius struggled to keep quiet and not snort with laughter at this point, but he managed to keep his cool long enough for the boy to be satisfied by their excuses and then walk far enough away to be out of earshot.

James emerged out of the cave with a homicidal look on his face. "Pads, you'd better run..." he glowered as he chased his best friend into the sea and finally managed to floor him in the freezing cold water.

"Boys will be boys," Erienne smiled as the two boys (now both sopping wet and shivering with cold) came back, joking and laughing together like nothing had happened.

Lily swiftly dried them with a quick spell – Isabel couldn't wait to be of age and able to do magic outside school without being monitored by the interfering Ministry of Magic – and they sat back down.

"I think it's your turn now, Iz," Sirius said. She squirmed uncomfortably. She didn't want to have to answer any stupid questions – like the unfortunate incident at Christmas – but likewise she didn't want to have to do a dare imagined up by James and Sirius. Knowing Sirius, it would probably involve stripping of some sort. Though that was probably safer than answering questions truthfully. Not that Isabel had a problem with the truth, as she didn't, but there was a few things she wanted to keep concealed for a while.

"Truth or dare?" Lily asked.

"Dare," Isabel answered hesitantly.

"What a brave young lass you are!" Sirius said in a really bad Scottish accent. James winked at Lily and Remus – which both Sirius and Isabel missed – and proceeded to give Isabel her dare.

"You have to kiss Sirius," he said simply. Both Isabel and Sirius' eyes widened so much that Will and Ollie thought they might pop out. It was quite a ghostly effect with the large sapphire eyes of Isabel and the expressive stormy grey eyes of Sirius bulging so violently. James merely smiled at them like this was a perfectly normal request, almost as if he had asked them to go and buy some apples from the supermarket.

"Are you kidding?" they said concurrently.

"Er... no. And you have to kiss _properly_," he said wickedly.

"Oh Merlin," Isabel murmured, her heartbeat quickening considerably.

"Should we just get it over with?" Sirius asked.

"I suppose," she said weakly and they leaned in.

As their lips connected, both of them felt something magical. It was almost like the fairytale ending in films, the handsome prince and princess kissing in front of a dazzling night sky with fireworks going off in the background. It was like a volcano had erupted and was unleashing pent up passion. As their lips parted, their friends and family could quite easily see that they were enjoying it more than previously expected. Sirius and Isabel were both so absorbed in the kiss that it took them a while to remember where they were.

Sudden realisation overtook them and they pulled apart abruptly – both of them feeling pleasantly lightheaded.

James smirked, full of satisfaction.

Erienne glanced at her watch. "It's nearly seven, shall we go back for some dinner?"

Isabel nodded, and went to get Alessandra, Fiorella and Sienna, as Sirius raced ahead to the tower staircase ahead of his friends, eager to get back to the castle so he could actually think about what had just happened – he had kissed Isabel. He had kissed Isabel. He had kissed her properly – and he had enjoyed it. He had felt the sparks fly. He had felt like he was soaring, zooming through the sky, like nothing could ever go wrong. As he thought about this to himself, he wondered why he felt like this. Surely he didn't _love _Isabel? She was like his sister. They messed about, played pranks, raised the roof at parties and listened to music together. She was his curly-haired, brunette, blue-eyed best friend. She materialized in his mind as his thoughts rushed to her. The beautiful chocolate brown hair in its soft corkscrew curls that demanded to be touched; the sparkling, meaningful, enchanting sapphire eyes that were so characteristic of her face; the pale alabaster skin which she always complained about; the slim but slowly curving figure. Before he could even gather his thoughts, something kept flashing in his mind: she was perfect. She was gorgeous, in her own inimitable way, and her personality echoed her prettiness. Her sense of humour, her love of laughter, her intelligence which could rival senior officials at the Ministry, her loyalty and her kindness. Sirius grinded his teeth – why hadn't he realised this before? Amanda had felt like a special girl to him. He thought that she was the one to make Sirius Black, eternal bachelor and womaniser (as previously thought), fall in love and actually demonstrate commitment and respect. But maybe Isabel was the one to make him fall in love. She had been his best female friend since first year, always there for a chat, a laugh, help and kind words. Quirky, polite, funny and sweet. The way she had bought him a CD to apologise, and then proceeded to help him make decorations – and had even put up with his disastrous attempts at using glitter. There was something about her – something compelling him to be with her at every chance possible, to talk with her, to laugh with her, to kiss her.

Isabel ushered her three little cousins ahead of her into the tower staircase. Whilst they giggled and skipped up it, her thoughts were entirely somewhere else. She had suspected it for a while – and now she thought she could admit to herself that she was in love with Sirius. It was the only possible answer after everything that had happened. She became addicted to going and kissing him as Amanda, being close to him without feeling stupid. The reason she had broken up with Jonas was because she had suspicions of it being like this. What was it that she had said to him? "I've been thinking about somebody else far too much and I don't think it's fair for you not to have my undivided attention." She spent far too much time thinking about Sirius for Jonas to have her undivided attention. And that kiss had just made it all the more clearer. She was in love with her best friend. It was the inevitable. Isabel had always known that she was best friends with the best looking, funniest and most entertaining boy in Hogwarts – it would only be so much time before her immunity to his attractiveness and charm (though he would be using it unawares) would stop and she would become completely infatuated with him. And she guessed that time had come. Jonas had said that they were made for each other – was that was everybody else was thinking?

"Isabel, what's for dinner?" Fiorella asked, interrupting her thoughts abruptly. Isabel was a little glad of the distraction as she felt like her mind was running around in circles.

"I think it's a roast," she replied quickly. Fiorella smiled, and they continued up the steps. Isabel was at the back, which she didn't particularly like – she didn't have Sirius' comforting hand on her back, guiding her.

Dinner was all set up when they got back – they sat down at the long table, set for twenty-eight people, and began to tuck in. Isabel was sat between Lily and Remus, with Sirius on Remus' other side. The conversations dominated the table – however, Isabel and Sirius sat in silence, deep in thought. This wasn't much fun for Remus, who had to sit between his two silent friends, but he quickly struck up conversation with Erienne, who was sat opposite him.

"James," a little voice said to James' left. James turned – it was little Sienna. They had been introduced earlier and James could safely say she was the cutest little thing ever (apart from his Lily).

"Yes?" he said kindly.

"Why are Izzy and Sirius not speaking? They always speak!" Sienna said, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. James thought it might be a little complex for an eight-year-old girl to understand, but he lent down and whispered in her ear.

"I think they like each other."

"Ooh, really?" she said, her pale eyes lighting up with excitement.

"Yep," he grinned as he shovelled some pork into his mouth and Lily chastised him for his table manners, then kissed him on the cheek.

Little romantic gestures. Sirius watched James, his partner in crime, best male friend, and Lily shower each other with little romantic gestures. He wanted to be like that. He was finally realising that a relationship wasn't about just physical attraction and having fun in a broom cupboard. He needed to sort this out and take the first step.

He turned to Remus.

"Moony... ask Isabel to meet me on the beach after dinner?"

_

* * *

_

That is one of the most horrible cliffhangers ever, I know, but I'll update tomorrow for you as soon as I get up :) thanks for reading, please leave a review and have an IMMENSE 2010!

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	23. Telling The Truth

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Thanks to , baby blue eyes10, ClaireMarieCullen, vanillabean18, Ash Blue, .limits111, solitaireclay07, 37, Flicka200, Laughing Angels Gibberish, Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl and sarlovesoccer for reviewing and thanks to RileyJRose and kitcool for adding it to their alert subscriptions! Please enjoy this chapter :)

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

_**Telling the Truth**_

Lily, James and Remus watched their friends go with interest. Remus had delivered Sirius' brief but meaningful message to Isabel, who had immediately accepted, a distinct glimmer of excitement in her sapphire eyes. Throughout pudding (when Sirius devoured three pieces of chocolate gateau and Isabel picked at her apple crumble nervously) Remus sat grinning to himself like some mad scientist concocting a plan. Erienne kept shooting him weird looks but he just mouthed the message: "I'll explain later."

Remus wasn't really one for much romance. As previously outlined to his friends, he liked girls, but didn't want to get involved with them. If only Isabel and Lily had a third friend in their group, he thought to himself, then life would be peachy. They were both so understanding, but like his sisters. Nothing more. Lily was James' – the love of his life. Remus was in no doubt when he said that because it was so true. And apparently, as of this afternoon, Isabel was quite clearly Sirius'. She had spent a few months dabbling with Jonas Carmichael, and they had looked happy together, but they had split up. Remus had heard all the details – Isabel had needed to talk to somebody for a male perspective on it all and she couldn't exactly talk to Sirius as it practically concerned him, and James was busy with Lily and would offer a distracted view.

"Do you think he really wants to be friends?" Isabel had asked that evening when they were sat beside each other in the library – Remus had been the one who had found her crying silently to herself at the back of the book haven, and had comforted her.

"From what you've said he sounded sincere enough," Remus had assured her, "and anyway – aren't Hufflepuffs renowned for their loyalty and kindness? What was it the Sorting Hat said at the start of the year: 'You might belong in Hufflepuff, where they are just and loyal'?" he quoted.

"I suppose," she sniffed.

"No matter what James and Sirius say – which is undoubtedly related to their competitiveness with Quidditch – he seems like a very nice person. Characteristically, with his house and everything, he would still want to be friends," Remus said wisely.

Isabel looked up at him. "I told him I was thinking about someone else too much to give him my totally undivided attention," she said quietly.

"Did he try to guess who it was?" Remus asked softly.

"Yes – I told him it would be unfair to but he said Sirius' name," Isabel informed him.

"I don't mean to pry and be overly nosy – but was it Sirius you were referring to?" he questioned carefully.

She nodded. "I don't know why and I can't really explain it, but yeah, it's him. And then he said that Sirius and I were made for each other!" she sounded practically hysterical at this point.

"Isabel – do you mind if I fully express my proper opinion?" he said cautiously.

"No," she muttered.

"The reason that he said that is because it appears that you are. A famous writer once said, and I can't remember exactly who it was, that 'friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never'," he began, "and I think the bond between you and Sirius has gotten to a point where you love him as more than a friend. It may not be entirely obvious to the both of you, but others can spot it. It isn't a bad thing, he won't hurt you. But I think you both need to figure out what exactly will happen."

Isabel smiled at him weakly. "Thanks, Remus. You've got a wise head on those shoulders," she said as they hugged.

"Glad to be of service," he grinned.

Remus liked being the one to help solve problems. His friends were intelligent, but weren't the best at problem solving. And though he had much less romantic experience than any of them, they always sought his advice. It was nice.

Remus' lycanthropy was the whole reason he didn't want to be romantically involved. It prevented him from feeling completely at ease. He knew that if he ever involved himself with somebody, he would be tense the whole time, wondering what they would do if they knew his terrible secret. His friends downplayed the whole werewolf thing – James even called it his "furry little problem", as if he had a badly behaved rabbit or something. They were all so accepting, but he knew, from bitter experience and from what people had told him, that not everybody was so accepting and others were prejudiced. Remus viewed himself, apart from the slight problem of him being a werewolf, as quite privileged. Professor Dumbledore had allowed him to come to Hogwarts, and had made arrangements for him to become a wolf every month away from others. He had great respect for his headmaster – not everybody would give him the same chances in later life, he was positive of that. That's why he made the most of the moment he was in – he studied hard so that he didn't waste the opportunity he had been given.

Girls had been interested in him over the years. And he wasn't thinking about Sirius' cousin's daughter, who was not, no matter what Sirius, James or Peter (who wasn't here, but he still bought it up) said, in love with him. Last year, when he was fifteen, there had been this girl called Jenny Thorpe, in the year above. She was breathtakingly pretty, in Remus' opinion, and there was no reason not to like her. She was clever, kind and honest – and he had admired her from afar. She had pale red hair, almost a honey blonde colour, but there was a definite auburn tinge to it which reminded him of the sunset. Her eyes were such a startling, flecked contrast of blue and green that the closest colour he could compare them to would be turquoise. She was petite and slim, with a beautiful smile that could light up a room.

He had seen Jenny frequently studying in the library – so when he went in to revise for his OWL examinations, she was in there doing homework. She was often accompanied by a few friends, but when she was alone she'd keep catching his eye and grinning coyly.

Jenny had been the reason for most of his urgent library visits – Sirius, James and Peter believed the stories he fed them about needing a book for his homework, or being bored, or he had left something there. Eventually, they donned James' invisibility cloak and followed him there to see why he was spending practically all his free time in there. They saw him sat at a table with a glamorous redhead nearby, surreptitiously stealing glances of her.

They had interrogated him when he had returned to their room that night. They had demanded why they hadn't told him about his little crush on Jenny Thorpe.

"I don't want to get too close to her because of what I am!" he had told them exasperatedly whilst they badgered him.

"So you choose to sit and watch her in the library like a psychopathic stalker," Sirius said matter-of-factly.

"If she's halfway decent, she won't bat an eyelid!" James said encouragingly.

"Yes she will. She's perfect, I'm a werewolf," Remus said sadly.

"We know! Remus, you should do something about it. I'm sure she likes you very much," James told him.

"Yes I like her but that's all it's going to stay at. I don't want her to hate me when she knows what I am so I'm just going to leave it – please respect my decision," and with that, Remus went to bed. They hadn't bought Jenny up again, but this year Jenny seemed to be in the arms of a fellow seventh year, Joel Albright. Every time she saw him, she smiled sadly. Remus ignored it. He had never even spoken to her, except to ask if she had finished with a book she was reading. He was completely over her. Completely.

"Remus?"

Lily's soft voice cut into his thoughts and he was drawn back to reality. He looked up at her. Everybody else seemed to have left apart from him, Lily and James.

"Have Isabel and Sirius gone down to the beach?" he asked. His friends nodded.

"And... I kind of want to know what's going on..." James said sneakily.

"Why do I get the feeling this involves some sort of spying?" Lily asked, amused.

"Because you are going out with a Marauder," James said cheekily, kissing her cheek and leading them out of the dining room. Everybody else seemed to be lounging in the drawing room or sitting room – or, in the case of the Rosetti sisters, playing a game of hide and seek in the cellar, which they wanted their cousin's three friends to join – they politely declined, assuring them that they would play with them later, but they had some business to attend to; spying on their friends.

"Where are we going to do this spying?" Remus questioned as they went out into the courtyard.

"Well, I kind of spotted something when we were on the way down to the beach earlier – and if I'm correct, I think it might be a prime position for us," James informed them as they went out into the gardens.

The outer wall looked shadowed against the darkening night sky – it was almost bright indigo mixed with cobalt blue, stars beginning to surface as the evening came.

Something Remus had noticed when they had been down on the beach was that the castle wall came right to the edge of the cliffs. It was such a romantic setting, he was glad that his two friends were having the talk they do desperately needed here instead of in the Gryffindor common room or in a deserted corridor at Hogwarts. And then it clicked where James was going – the battlements, a long walkway going round the edge of the castle at the top of the wall. They would be able to see perfectly from there, without being seen (probably).

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Lily worried as they ascended the staircase in the direction of the battlements. "I mean, won't they want privacy?"

"We didn't have much privacy, Lil," James said, hazel eyes glinting. "From what I recall, Isabel shouted it loud enough for the whole Gryffindor tower to hear."

"True," Lily giggled. "I suppose it's just a little bit of payback..."

"Look, there they are!" Remus said, pointing at two figures meandering along the beach with a little distance between them, and then stopping by the waves.

*

Though there should have been tension in the silence that existed between Isabel and Sirius on the beach, interrupted only by the sound of the crashing waves, there wasn't. Somehow it was a comfortable silence and neither of them wanted to break it and launch into whatever it was they had to say. Isabel tucked her hair behind her ears, it going crazy in the evening wind.

Suddenly, Sirius decided that he couldn't take it anymore. The silence was too much for him to cope with – he needed to say some things.

"Isabel – I think that I like you. As more than a friend," he said – then realised that was probably quite an abrupt way to say it. "Sorry. Nervous. But for the past two months, I was mourning Amanda leaving and breaking up with me. I thought that I liked her, that nobody else would measure up, nobody else would make me feel the same way that she did."

Isabel squirmed slightly at these words. It was like her heartbeat was in her ears and her head – _tell him. Tell him. Tell him._

"You know, I spent ages moping about. And I'm not somebody to do that, you know. If I saw myself like this at the start of the year, I wouldn't have recognised myself. That day on the train, September the first, coming back for our sixth year, it was kind of despicable. Five girls in one day? I thought I was enjoying being like that, you know. Kiss one girl in a broom cupboard, say a few sweet words, make it perfectly clear that it was a one-time thing and it didn't mean anything commitment-wise, then move on to the next one. I thought that was me set up for life. I thought that I would be an eternal bachelor, living by myself, messing about and pulling pranks. But over the course of this year, I've learned that I'm not as fickle as I first thought. Before, I'd get tempted by a girl who had curves and an infectious giggle, but now I realise that it's what's underneath that counts and I can't very well go out with someone and not be able to speak to them about normal, everyday stuff. And, that kiss earlier, it made me realise," he paused, and stepped towards Isabel, putting his hand on her cheek and caressing it. "I want to be with you."

He leaned in and kissed Isabel softly on the lips, briefly but it spoke volumes.

When he drew back, Isabel breathed in and launched into her own speech which she felt she needed to say.

"Sirius – my words can only echo what you just said. I'm beginning to feel like going out with Jonas was like a distraction. When I broke up with him, I told him that I was thinking too much about someone else and felt it was unfair because he didn't have my undivided attention – he guessed correctly that that someone else was you. He said that it was inevitable that we would get together and that everyone knew we were made for each other. I thought, at first, that he was crazy," Isabel said, and Sirius chuckled. "But now I think about it – I talk about you all the time. I recall silly little things that we did when we were younger. I still laugh at things you said to me when we were in about third year! And why? Because they're special to me. Times I've spent with you are special to me. You are special to me," she concluded. They were standing close, so close there was about a finger's width between their faces.

Before they could even step in slightly more to kiss, Sirius stepped back.

"I think before we get together we have to be truthful with each other," he said.

_Tell him. _

"Why, was there anything you wanted to tell me?" she stammered nervously.

_Tell him. Tell him. _

"You already know about my being an illegal animagus," he laughed.

_Tell him. Tell him. Tell him._

"Can I see you as an animagus though?" she asked.

_Tell him. Tell him. Tell him. Tell him._

Sirius grinned and suddenly transformed into a shaggy black dog, running into the waves and splashing around.

_Tell him. Tell him. Tell him. Tell him. Tell him._

Isabel couldn't take it anymore. Her heart was beating in her ears, her head was spinning...

"Sirius, I was Amanda!" she screamed.

As quickly as he had started playing in the waves, the dog-Sirius stopped. He transformed back into human-Sirius.

"Sorry, say that again?" he said, walking back towards her. Now he wasn't looking playful or happy – he was looking on the brink of an explosion.

"I was Amanda," she said sadly.

"What?" he practically shrieked. "How is that even possible?"

"Polyjuice Potion," she whispered.

"Oh my Merlin..." he said, a murderous expression on his face. "You were Amanda? I suppose this was so you could have a good laugh at me falling in love – you obviously heard me tell Amanda, or sorry, YOU, that I loved her? Then you mysteriously disappeared. Joke over? Gone too far?"

"It wasn't like that!" she squealed. "I was her to make you like a girl more than just an occasional broom cupboard hook up! I didn't want you to fall in love with her, but you did! Yes, it went too far – I couldn't live with myself toying with your feelings. But I kept going. You know why? Because I felt _compelled _to you – like I had to go and kiss you and have dates with you!"

"I thought you were different Isabel, you were supposed to be my best friend. Instead, you lied to me. I suppose – ah, yes. The reason you fell out with me was because I said you were average? That was when you started going out with Jonas. Run and cry in his arms?" he said mockingly.

"Look, I'm _sorry_!" she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. The clouds above them were grey, threatening a terrible thunderstorm and endless rain.

"Well, I'm afraid sorry is just not good enough, Isabel," he said. Isabel didn't like the way he had reverted back to using her full name. She'd give anything to hear him shorten it again.

"What can I do to make it up to you?" she said, grabbing his arm. He immediately shook her off and glared at her.

"You sicken me," he said, his words laced with malice, and, Isabel didn't like to admit it, hate.

"Please, no!" she said piteously as he strolled off. She stood in the sands as the drops of rain began to fall. No, she wouldn't follow him. He hated her now.

Isabel turned and ran off. She sprinted along the beach, refusing to wipe away the fast-falling tears dripping down her face. She sat herself on some rocks that were fully open to the elements and quite far out into the sea and would be cut off by the tide. But she didn't care. Sirius didn't like her any more.

It just wasn't worth it.

_

* * *

_

Sorry about the cliffhanger - please review your hearts out, it's the new year!!! Thanks for reading,

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	24. Crying In The Rain

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Wow, thanks to the response to the last chapter! Thank you to ClaireMarieCullen, Ash Blue, spannieren, xolunaxx, , ItsNotMeItsYou, DSS Special Agent, Warning- May Contain Pepsi, LegoLassss, .limits111 and sarlovesoccer for reviewing; thank you to Lady Drama and Warning- May Contain Pepsi for adding my story to your alerts and thank you to Warning- May Contain Pepsi and spannieren for adding my story to your favourites. I'm sorry about the huge cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter so I thought a quick update was necessary! I also wanted to let you know that after this chapter there are only two left!

I don't know if any of you have noticed the title of the chapter is named after a song by Whitesnake called "Crying In The Rain", which, if you like vintage rock music, I would listen to whilst reading this :) it's an absolutely cracking song! I normally don't match songs with chapters but a couple of songs I listened to whilst writing this were: "Crying In The Rain", Whitesnake; "Don't Stop Believin'", Journey (one of the absolute best songs ever written); "Livin' On A Prayer", Bon Jovi; "I'm Yours", "Lucky", Jason Mraz; "Sweet Child O Mine", Guns N Roses and "Summer of '69", Bryan Adams. There is also a song which is basically themed to Isabel and Sirius' relationship but I'm not revealing it till the final chapter as it gives too much away!

Sorry about the long A/N, on with the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

_**Crying in the Rain**_

The rain fell mercilessly. It rained like it had never rained before – it fell in hard, cold drops and the sky cracked with thunder. The sky had now turned completely grey, losing the indigo and cobalt glittering supernova that had been glowing before. The greyness had rushed in with the mood – Sirius Black was striding back towards the cave where he could walk back up the castle through the tower. He was full of so many emotions that he couldn't comprehend – he didn't know what was going on now.

Things had happened so fast. First he was admitting that he liked her, then she admitted that she liked him, then they got on to telling the truth. He had shown her his Padfoot dog form, then she had shouted out those fateful words. He didn't even know why it meant so much to him. He didn't know why a lot of things were.

People had lied to him before, and he had gotten on with it. One of the biggest lies he had ever been told was by his parents. Walburga and Orion Black had enforced their views on Muggle-borns quite harshly into their two sons. Sirius grew up and went to Hogwarts thinking that Muggle-borns were worthless.

Then he met some. Primarily Lily Evans – who had taught him that they were nothing of the sort. He learned that much on the first train ride – he also learned that he was nothing like any of his family. This had been proved by him being sorted into Gryffindor. But after his family telling him this, he had grown to detest them. He tried to look out for Regulus, but it was just hopeless. Regulus had just gone his own way, and had got in with a group of Slytherins that would unquestionably become Death Eaters as soon as they left school. It was indubitable that Walburga and Orion Black were proud of their youngest son, unlike their oldest, who they had now disowned.

Sirius didn't care. He got all the love and attention he needed at the Potters. Charlus and Dorea Potter were like his parents – James was like his brother. His friends meant so much to him – perhaps because he had grown up not feeling like he had a family, one that understood him. Charlus, Dorea, James, Lily, Remus, Peter and Isabel were his family. His friends were the family that he chose for himself. They made him forget about the pureblood maniacs he legally had to call his parents, though it sickened him to do it. He agreed with nothing they did, they were despicable. Now he had escaped Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, it was like a heavy weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. It was like he was flying, he could do no wrong.

He no longer had to suffer beatings when he saw his parents. He was beaten for getting into Gryffindor (plus those infamous Howlers), he was beaten for defending Muggle-borns, he was beaten for messing around with girls. He could thank his sneaking brother for that one – he had told his parents about Sirius' womanising tendencies. And, just before he had run away, he had a complete screaming match with his mother and father about his friends, during which they had used the Cruciatus Curse on him more than once. As he walked through the rain now, he could remember the writhing, the pain, the feelings going through him as he struggled on the ground. The rubbish relationship he had had with his parents made him forge strong, unbreakable relationships at school where he could be himself and have fun without the horrific aftermath. If he ever had children in the future, he would shower them with love and attention and never make them feel unwanted. He would let them be themselves and allow them to voice their own opinions.

As the rain hammered down on him, a little picture of his future family appeared in his mind – him, sophisticatedly and maturely handsome father, his hand proudly placed on the shoulder of one of his children, a pretty girl. Her twin (for some reason he had twin girls for children) had her mother's hand on her shoulder, and her mother's other hand was holding Sirius'. Surprisingly, when he focused on the little picture of the mother, she had pale alabaster skin, softly curled brown hair, sparkling sapphire eyes and a tall and slim figure. She was the spitting image of Isabel.

With this thought, he hurried into the cave and slammed back against the wall, sheltering from the ruthless rain, falling in droves onto the roaring sea. He needed to breathe. He needed to go up and talk to his friends.

He ran into the tower door and up the stairs like he was being chased by a Chimaera. He would stop at nothing to find his friends and talk to them about what had happened. He suspected that they were all inside the castle, probably in their rooms, looking out to the rain and feeling warm and content. He knew that if he were them, he would be.

"_Padfoot_!"

He was interrupted from his reverie by a familiar voice yelling his name. He jumped up the last few steps and saw James running towards him underneath a jacket. Lily and Remus followed closely. The rain seemed to be falling even heavier, if that was possible. Sirius stood inside the tower on the top step as his friends rushed towards him. He moved aside so they could shelter inside the tower with him on the steps.

"Where's Isabel?" Lily demanded.

"I d-don't know," he stuttered.

"You don't _know_?" she practically screamed. "She's probably out freezing to death somewhere in this rain! You ran off and left her?"

"What happened, mate?" Remus asked in a slightly calmer voice than Lily's, but he knew they had to get out and find Isabel.

"Isabel was Amanda all along! She lied to me!" he practically cried.

"You still like her, though?" James asked cautiously.

"Of course I still like her! I bloody love her, but she lied to me!" he screeched.

"Well go and find her then! If you love her so much, you need to find her and tell her!" Lily ordered.

As he started to open his mouth, James interrupted. "Yes, Pads, we know she lied to you. But consider why she did it – and go find her."

As fast as he had ascended the stairs, he began to descend them again. Hopping down, running, jumping, sprinting, as fast as he could. Isabel could have been miles up the beach by now. He needed to find her. Tell her how he felt. His friends, though their words brief, had convinced him.

The rain pounded on the sand as Sirius Black ran, his eyes peeled, yelling, "IZ! ISABEL! IZZY!"

*

Isabel lay on the rocks, the rain beating down on her body. Her sopping wet hair was plastered to her face, her silk top and jeans stuck to her slim body. Her hands and feet were numb. So this was how she was going to die? Depressed, cold and hating the world? She was too weak to swim to the shore, and the rocks were cut off by the tide with no way of her getting back except swimming. Her wand was back in her room – there would be no use in using it anyway, she was underage, and would only be expelled from Hogwarts.

Isabel was all out of tears now. She had cried herself dry, and was now lying on the rocks, open to the elements and soaking.

The only thing she could comfort herself with now were memories of her and Sirius together. He hated her now because of the way she had deceived him. To recall memories of the happy times they had shared was her only comfort.

When they had messed about by the Black Lake last summer, pushing each other in – the others had watched on and wouldn't go in, but Sirius and Isabel combined dragged them all in...

_Sirius Black was a good runner, but Isabel Willoughby was easily a good enough rival. They looked at each other as they reached the main doors – it was a beautiful sunny day, blisteringly hot, and Sirius and Isabel intended to take full advantage of the warm weather and the fact that it was a weekend afternoon – and exams were over. They had now finished their OWLs, so they could finally breathe and have fun again. Not that Sirius had ever stopped having fun – he had kept busy in his favourite broom cupboard virtually every night the past couple of weeks, emerging with a different girl every time. Isabel had revised well into the night and had fallen asleep on large books in the library more than once. She had awaken one morning with her face stuck to a page of a Potions book and found that, when she got into the Great Hall for breakfast and had examined the state of her face and hair on the back of a spoon, the ink of the writing on the page had printed onto her face. _

"_GO!" Isabel yelled and they both jumped down the steps and sprinted in the general direction of the lake, leaving their friends coming after them much slower. Lily was a bit annoyed at having to stay with James – her adoring stalker – but started talking very pointedly to Remus about a question on the test paper whilst James tried to change the colour of Peter's hair without him noticing. _

"_You won't beat me!" Sirius yelled as he hopped over the unlevel ground, nearing the lake faster and faster. Isabel was neck and neck with him – though a few inches smaller, her legs were just as long and if she pushed herself hard enough, she could outrun him._

"_You wanna bet?" she countered as she leapt over a mound and soared through the air ahead of Sirius. She was getting closer and closer to the lake, closer than Sirius was... finally, she was standing on the brink of the water, whooping and cheering, as she had won._

"_What a fluke," Sirius scoffed as he came close second. _

"_That's what you would say. Loser," she grinned cheekily as she took off her cardigan that she had thrown on over her t-shirt and shorts. Merlin knows why she had put it on, but now it was strewn across the ground, forgotten. Lily picked it up as she caught them up, and went to sit underneath the tree the Marauders usually sat by. She had no interest in scampering about in the lake like Isabel and Sirius were undoubtedly about to do, so she took out that morning's copy of the _Daily Prophet_ and commenced reading._

_James stretched himself out in the sun, intent on getting a tan, convinced that with his Quidditch muscles and toned physique, it would send Lily wild and make her like him. _

_Remus got out his own book and began reading that, sat comfortably on one of the tree roots near Lily._

_Peter just sat on the ground, watching the events unfold by the lake. _

"_Oh, so I'm a loser?" he said aggressively._

"_Yep, that's _exactly_ what you are," Isabel chuckled as she stuck her toe in the lake. She kicked off her Converse trainers (bright red) and waded in a few centimetres so that her feet were fully submerged. It felt nice and cool in the hot weather. _

"_Don't go in without me!" Sirius whined as he pulled off his trainers and left them next to Isabel's shoes. As he walked in, he failed to notice a large stone stuck in the ground and tripped over it – conveniently pushing Isabel right in and following her. They both sat up, having fallen in the shallows, soaking wet. _

_Lily, Remus, Peter and James started howling with laughter at the hilarious shocked look on their friends' faces. _

"_I don't know what they think is so funny," Isabel glowered as she pushed her wet hair out of her face (along with a piece of seaweed which seemed to have wrapped its way through the curls)._

_Sirius did the same. "I know. If they don't stop in five seconds, they're coming in two. Five..."_

"_Four..." _

"_Three..."_

"_Two..."_

"_One..."_

_Their friends were still chortling wildly, laughing so much their sides hurt._

"_Right, that's IT!" Isabel growled, getting up out of the lake. Her clothes were now stuck to her skinny frame and as she came forward to her friends her feet squelched. Sirius had a devious look on his face as he sneaked forward too._

"_I suppose you think that's funny?" Isabel asked, hands on her hips._

"_Bloody hilarious!" James chuckled._

"_Okay," she said, and ferociously grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the lake. As James struggled, Isabel's grip loosened, and Sirius ran forward and pushed him so that he was now in the lake with them, soaking wet. _

"_AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!" James screamed as he fell in._

"_Oh Prongs, it's so funny!" Sirius laughed._

"_Yes, bloody hilarious," Isabel mimicked with surprising accuracy. _

"_Comic geniuses you two, aren't you?" James scowled. _

"_Of course!" Sirius grinned. "Do you think dearest Lily would like to go for a swim?"_

"_Maybe that's not such a good idea..." Isabel said, knowing Lily would scream if she got chucked in the lake. _

"_Yes it is, come on Prongsy," Sirius said. The two boys slowly advanced towards Lily, who was reading her favourite gossip column in the paper. They sneaked up and grabbed her, and she squealed wildly._

"_Put me down! PUT ME DOWN!" she shrieked as they ran towards the lake. "NO! NO! POTTER, IF YOU DARE– AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!"_

_Lily was now sat beside Isabel in the lake, not looking pleased._

"_Sirius, I think you'd better run," Isabel warned as Lily got up. _

"_Merlin, let's go!" they yelled, running back towards the castle._

A strong wave crashed over the rock, soaking Isabel even more. She was shivering with the cold, wondering how long she would survive out here. She couldn't get back if she tried, and nobody had come for her. Nobody cared.

She immersed herself in thought again, returning to her memories.

_On the thirty-first of October, Sirius and James rushed into the common room, dressed as ghosts. They hadn't made much effort with their costumes – they both had white sheets with eye-holes cut in them draped over themselves. They waved into the common room, shouting "WOOOO!" as if they thought somebody would be fooled by their attire. Unfortunately, one poor first-year girl was – as soon as she saw them her eyes widened, and she began screaming._

"_AAARRRGGGGHHHH! THE GHOSTS ARE COMING TO KILL ME!" she yelled dramatically and ran around the room like a headless chicken whilst Sirius and James continued their sound effects and waving. _

_Students from the older years rushed down the stairs, thinking that said first year was being brutally murdered in the Gryffindor common room and, them being brave, chivalrous Gryffindors, they needed to stop it and save whoever it was being killed. So when they came downstairs and they saw the little girl running around screeching because she was scared of Sirius and James (and it was quite obviously those two – you could see their shoes and they were wearing Converse which they had scribbled on in multi-coloured ink. Nobody else in school had shoes with "Padfoot is Sexy" and "Prongs for Lily" written on them) dressed in white sheets. It was quite funny._

_Isabel was first in front of them as she had been coming down the stairs at the time the girl started screaming. When she became acquainted with the sight, she marched towards the boys and grabbed the sheets. The little girl stared at them, her eyes widening even more._

"_OH MY MERLIN! JAMES AND SIRIUS DIED AND ARE NOW GHOSTS!" she cried hysterically. Lily rushed forward to comfort her and attempted to assure her that no, they weren't dead, they were just dressing up in the spirit of Halloween. Once the girl was sufficiently calm, she went up to her room, leaving the common room full of the onlookers._

"_Well, we were going to have a party," James said, looking at Sirius. Isabel was still holding their sequestered sheets._

"_Yeah, but nobody's in costume, our costumes have been commandeered by this girl here, Isabel, and somebody thought we'd died. Some Halloween this has turned out to be," Sirius grumbled._

_Suddenly, everybody produced their wands and began to transfigure their normal attire into costumes for a Halloween party. Isabel reluctantly gave them their sheets back as Sirius sneakily transfigured her t-shirt dress and Converse into a Marie Antoinette style dress and ballet shoes. Her hair now became a tightly curled piled up creation on her head, adorned with feathers and pearls._

"_Merlin my head is heavy!" she moaned as she lifted her hands up to establish what all the weight was. When she felt the two-foot masterpiece that had just appeared on her head, she caught Sirius' eye. He winked. _

_There was no way he was getting away with this. She had to walk round in a big puffy dress and a heavy wig whilst he wore a white sheet in an attempt to be a ghost. It didn't seem quite fair to her..._

_So when Sirius was engaged with apple bobbing, she sneakily cast a quick spell on him. He had shoved his head into the cauldron as Sirius, but when he lifted it up, he was dressed as a Roman soldier, complete with the helmet, shield and sword._

_Instead of getting even, like Isabel had done, he pranced up to some random child and said, "My liege! Where are we battling to? Where are the idiots we are to fight?"_

_The person just gave him a very weird look._

"_Ah, Isabel Antoinette! How very dashing you look this evening – I was wondering, could you direct me to the nearest battle?" he grinned._

Isabel was soaked to the bone. She felt completely numb, lying on the rock. The waves thrashed about, the wind howled and the thunder clapped. It was like something of a bad dream. She didn't want to sleep – she wanted to forget. She wanted someone to rescue her, she wanted to survive this. Her memories were not what she wanted to survive on. She wanted to be with Sirius, and if that meant twenty years of apologising and excessive grovelling, then she would endure it.

She used the little energy she had to lift her body up to look back at the beach. There was a figure on the sands. She tried to lift her arm up to attract their attention, but she couldn't. She opened her mouth, calling for help, but the sound that came out was so feeble it was stupid. She tried again, repeatedly, but each time the sound of her voice was drowned out by the noisiness around her. It was hopeless. She was never going to be rescued.

She tried to think of something happy. The time Sirius attempted to hold a bikini beach party at the Black Lake.

_Every girl above fourth year in Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had, overnight, a note shoved under their door. The folded pieces of parchment had a tidy handwriting in bright blue on it, with a few multi-coloured squiggles of different inks at the top and bottom – whoever had written it obviously wasn't that talented in the art department._

_Isabel was first to wake in her and Lily's room that morning, which was a rare occurrence. She quietly got out of her bed and slipped her feet into her slippers. On the way to the bathroom, she noticed the parchment on the floor. Due to her perfectionist tendencies, she had tidied the room last night and had certainly not left parchment on the floor. She had a drawer devoted to doing that job, she was so organised._

_Groggily, she picked it up and opened it. It said, with her and Lily's names at the top: _'Dear Lily and Isabel, Sirius Black would like to invite you to a fun afternoon by the Black Lake – surf, beach and music!! Bikinis only please.'

_Why was she surprised? She laughed as she put it on top of the dresser and proceeded to the bathroom._

_Later that day, many girls were readying themselves for the bikini party, actually going to attend. Isabel couldn't believe it – girls rushed down to the lake with cardigans and coats on over their swimsuits. It was like some bizarre Baywatch nightmare. _

_At the lake, Sirius was sitting there next to a little fire he had conjured up and was cooking sausages on. He was fully clothed, but fully enjoying the attention from the bikini-clad girls._

"_ISABEL!" he had yelled when Isabel and Lily approached the little party. "You forgot your bikini!"_

"_Oh really? Because I was so intending on wearing a bikini just for your pleasure!" she said sardonically. He grinned. The other girls glowered at her, annoyed that she had Sirius' attention when she didn't even conform to the exhibitionist dress code. _

"_You know you want to!" he quipped. She laughed and went to sit under the tree with her favourite book. _

Isabel smiled, despite her situation. Sirius' bikini party had really made her laugh – especially when McGonagall came out and issued several detentions to everybody involved, and then, when the girls had been sent back to the castle, had said to Sirius, "Why does it not surprise me that this was coordinated by you, Mr Black?"

He had just grinned and said, "Just a good guess, I suppose."

She could almost hear him when he yelled her name across that crowd of girls. In fact... _she could hear her name_!

She lifted herself up again, hearing somebody call, "ISABEL! IZ! ISABEL!" frantically. She saw somebody on the beach – somebody with dark curly hair, plastered to his handsome aristocratic face in the rain. He had come back for her. He had come back. He still cared for her.

"Sirius..." she tried to call, but her voice was hoarse from crying and trying to shout earlier.

Sirius was standing on the beach, terrified with anxiety. He had checked all the caves and she wasn't there. This was about a mile up the beach and he was pretty sure that she couldn't have gone further. Where was she?

He scanned his stormy grey eyes across the horizon. There were some rocks a little out to sea, but unless he was sure she was there he wouldn't go as he would have to swim out or else locate a rowing boat – and he didn't seem to have one with him at that moment in time.

Something moving on the rocks caught his attention. He scrutinized them more closely. Somebody was sat on them – somebody in a soaked turquoise top with brown hair. She looked towards him helplessly.

_Isabel._

Quickly, Sirius sprung into action. There was no way he would get a rowing boat now, and, though it was extremely dangerous and he was risking his own life by doing it, he took off his outer layers so he was standing there in his jeans and t-shirt, without shoes or socks – he pushed back his sodden hair and ran into the water. As soon as it got deep enough he embarked on a swim towards the rocks. The water was choppy and difficult to swim in, splashing his face at every time, his vision marred by the rain. He would have to swim back through it supporting Isabel, he reminded himself, but for now he just wanted to get to her.

The rain was beating down on Isabel – she could see a murky shape floating through the wild waters. Now it was too much energy to get up. She was completely numb, freezing with cold and feeling helpless. She needed help, and she couldn't attract the person on the beach.

"Isabel!"

Isabel's eyes widened. Now she was hallucinating – imagining that she could hear Sirius' voice calling her name. How typical. She couldn't help but smile at herself – she had always had an overactive imagination.

"Isabel!"

Isabel scolded herself. She was upsetting herself now imagining that Sirius had come to save her. Her blue eyes clouded over with the tears she thought she had already cried out but apparently still had.

"Please be alive..."

Isabel was sure she couldn't have imagined it for a third time. She shifted herself slightly – the murky shape was drawing closer. It was speaking to her in worried tones, calling her name...

It was Sirius.

*

Sirius clambered up onto the rocks, lifting himself out of the water with slight difficulty. He had found her, shivering and numb, lying in the rain on a rock. She was weak, but she was alive. He put his head next to her heart and heard it beating, but slowly. She needed to get back, urgently. Otherwise she probably wouldn't survive.

"Sirius..." he heard her whisper. His worried eyes darted back to her face where she had a small smile that seemed to light up her face even now.

"Shush, don't worry, I'll get you back safely," he assured her. "You're alive, love. Your heart is still beating."

"It beats for you," she whispered, and then briefly closed her eyes.

"No, Isabel, don't go!" he said quickly. She lifted her eyelids again.

"I trust you," she said, as he enveloped her in a hug. It was like the life was being slowly breathed back into her.

"I'm going to have to swim with you back to the shore. I know you probably don't have the energy to, but I'll support you," he muttered comfortingly.

"Sirius, I'm so sorry..." she said, tears spilling down her cheeks again.

"Shush, it doesn't matter," he said – truthfully. He scooped her up in his arms and sat on the edge of the rock, his legs dangling in the water. He briefly kissed her cold lips before slipping into the sea.

It was hard swimming with Isabel too. He was strong, his Quidditch training had contributed towards that. He wanted to get her back safely, to her family. He would not let her die, he would not let her get seriously ill. He cared too much about her to let it happen.

He was getting closer and closer to the shore, kicking furiously to propel them forward in the restless water. He was tired, but his anxiety and determination was giving him an odd adrenaline rush. The rush drove him towards the beach – he stumbled onto the sands, clutching Isabel in his arms. He ran as fast as his legs could take him up the beach, panting heavily as he covered the mile and then came to the cave.

Isabel's eyes were flitting.

"No, Isabel, stay," he warned her, jumping up the stairs two at a time, holding her as if she was as light as a feather.

"I'm exhausted," she murmured.

"I know – but please stay awake, for me?" he asked.

Isabel would do anything for him, so she kept her eyes open. Her heart beat was quickening slightly, but she was still soaking, her clothes clinging to her body, revealing her slim figure. Sirius sighed as he reached halfway. He himself was exhausted and needed to rest slightly. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs as he leaned against the wall, quickly trying to summon the breath and the energy to get him and Isabel up to the castle.

"Padfoot?"

It was James, running towards him.

"I'll take her," he offered.

"I want to stay with her," Sirius panted.

"I know, Pads, I know – but I'll get her to the fire so her family can tend to her," James assured him. Sirius agreed, and put Isabel into his arms. As he did so, he kissed her lips briefly and whispered,

"I love you."

_

* * *

_

I hope you liked that, thanks for reading! Please review your hearts out as I'd love to get at least 300 reviews on this story - 52 to go... :) Happy new year again!

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	25. You Leave Me Breathless

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _Wow, thank you so, SO, _SO_ much for all the lovely reviews and comments! Thank you to kitcool, vampire-luver101, baby blue eyes10, .limits111, Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl, ginaandlunaBFF, Sam-EvansBlue, French Fries and Blue Moons, ClaireMarieCullen, Freya-Rhianna, Lollypop, Stephie Cat-Kat, n, xolunaxx, Ash Blue, stina, vanillabean18, Flicka200, Squid7000, Warning- May Contain Pepsi, Amy, sarlovesoccer and spannieren for reviewing and thank you to those who reviewed multiple times; thank you to Zalaril and vampire-luver101 for adding my story to their alerts and thank you to French Fries and Blue Moons, Miss Raella Morgan, vampire-luver101 and baby blues eyes10 for adding my story to their favourites!

This is the last BUT ONE chapter so please enjoy and review!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

_**You Leave Me Breathless**_

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Sirius spent every waking moment with Isabel the next day – a fire was roaring in her bedroom and she had a potion which she had to drink every two hours, which he carefully administered. As Isabel was not quite up to keeping her cousins entertained, James, Lily and Remus had consented to do it, but came to see her when they could. Sienna Rosetti treated James as her idol and followed him round everywhere, constantly smiling and asking questions. Isabel and Sirius used this as a source for amusement in the hours they spent sitting in her bedroom together. Her mother had said that she would be perfectly fine by the next day – her birthday and the day of the ball.

She awoke the morning of her birthday feeling brilliant and back to normal. She looked up to see that Sirius had fallen asleep in the armchair by her bed, snuggled up in a foetal position with his head against one of Isabel's many cushions. She smiled – he was the sweetest thing.

"Oh Merlin – I'm seventeen!" she suddenly remembered. Deciding that she wanted to fully exercise the fact she could now do magic outside of school legally right now, she transfigured an earring into a trumpet and cast a spell so that it started playing a fanfare so that everybody could get up – it wasn't too early, and Isabel wanted to spend the whole day pampering herself with Lily and getting ready for the ball tonight.

"What the– ARRRGGGHHH!" Sirius yelled as he saw the trumpet right next to his face – having miraculously woken up straight away. He fell off his seat onto the floor, howling in surprise all the while. Isabel giggled. Lily rolled over and opened her eyes to see the scene unfolding before her. She shook her head despairingly and smiled to herself.

At that moment, James came rushing in brandishing Sirius' beater's bat, which, for some strange reason, he had bought with him.

"WHERE IS THE SCOUNDREL?" he bellowed, shaking the bat menacingly.

"Put it down, Prongs!" Sirius ordered from the floor.

"Oh, hello Padfoot, how are you this morning?" James asked brightly.

"Fine and dandy thank you, but why, may I ask, have you got my beater's bat?"

"Well, we heard screaming, and thought perhaps the girls were in trouble and we wanted to defend them, being the manly men we are!" James grinned, flexing his muscles.

"Prongs – it was me that was yelling. And you thought it was the girls. Do you think I have a girly yell?" Sirius asked interrogatively.

"Er, _no... _'course not, Pads! Where on earth did you get that idea from?" James said, darting his eyes to meet Remus' shiftily.

"Happy birthday, Isabel!" Remus said happily, breaking the tension.

"Oh yeah, Merlin! Happy seventeen birthday!" Sirius smiled at her.

"Have I got a birthday surprise for you... and if Padfoot would care to join me..." James said, going and standing on the window seat. Sirius obliged. "When we were young, carefree and innocent–"

"You've never been innocent!" Lily laughed.

"Yeah well, moving swiftly on... we decided that we were bored one afternoon and good old Padders here came up with the bloody stupendous idea of forming a band! So we practiced, wowed the crowds–" James continued.

"Wowed? You practically deafened me!" Remus scoffed.

"Shut up. I'm trying to deliver a lovely surprise for dear Isabel here, and everybody keeps interrupting!" James said exasperatedly. "And we are now going to sing one of our specialities for you – start of in a B flat, Pads."

"Do you even know what a B flat is?" Remus asked sceptically.

"Of course," James said, flapping his hands. "A one, a one, two, three – GO!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" Sirius howled in any note but a B flat.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ISABEL..." they screeched together – their singing voices tuneless and the equivalent of somebody scraping their fingernails down a blackboard.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" they finished.

"Um, thank you?" Isabel said, almost questioning them rather than actually stating it.

"We will be back for Moony's birthday, do not despair!" Sirius beamed at them all.

"Look out for a world tour of Hogwarts soon!" James said as they bowed.

"Happy birthday!"

Suddenly, many cousins and relatives rushed into the room, crowding round Isabel's bed, clutching presents. She felt a bit overwhelmed as she had numerous cards and packages put on her bed for her to open.

"Merlin, where do I start?" she laughed.

"With mine!" Sienna chirped up. She clambered onto the bed holding a small box wrapped in sparkly blue paper.

"Thank you," Isabel said as she took it from her and began to neatly unwrap it.

"Hurry up, Iz, I do want to see all of them before I'm fifty!" Sirius groaned as everybody chuckled.

"Fine – speed unwrapping!" she grinned mischievously and began to unwrap them with the speed of lightening, proclaiming thanks as she moved onto the next one. Five minutes later, everything was unwrapped and opened, everyone thanked and hugged.

Everybody began to leave her and Lily in peace, except the Marauders.

"Buzz off, boys, we're getting ready for the ball!" Lily declared.

"But it's half past nine in the morning! The ball doesn't start till half seven, you don't need ten hours to get ready!" James pointed out exasperatedly.

"Yes we do," Lily responded.

"We don't mind staying whilst you get ready," James winked. Lily rolled her eyes – something she seemed to do rather a lot.

"It's perfectly fine James, skedaddle," Lily ordered. Remus and James exited, James grumbling irritably, but Sirius lingered, his eyes hovering on Isabel.

"Don't worry, Sirius, I won't disintegrate whilst you're away!" she grinned and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Right, now they are out of the way, we can get ready!" Lily said, twirling around the room like a ballerina.

"Watch it, twinkle toes," Isabel said cheekily, and Lily threw a pillow at her.

*

At quarter past seven, the two girls were finally ready. They had literally spent all day – except for meal times – pampering themselves and ensuring that they looked perfect for the ball. They had gone downstairs for their lunch with their hair in curlers, still wearing pyjamas and dressing gowns. The boys were incredulous – they had spent the day down at the beach playing with the cousins. Colin, Will, Ollie and Jack, who had come to join them, went down to the beach and Sienna and Fiorella Rosetti came with them – the boys taught them how to play football. They spent the afternoon doing this, whilst Alessandra stayed with the girls, lounging in the garden under the warm April sun. They had all disappeared at half three to get ready, and Isabel's Auntie Lou had been sent by the rest of the adults to commandeer, firstly her own girls to get them into the dresses she had bought them, and secondly the boys to go and get ready.

Isabel and Lily had expressly forbidden the boys, or anyone for that matter, to come into their room all day. They were now standing, analysing their flawless reflections, in a full-length mirror.

Lily was wearing a black floor-length evening gown which looked striking with her hair, which she had left down and softly curled, with part of it held up with a sparkling silver hairclip. The dress was halter-neck, emphasising her curves, and fitted perfectly. Her eyes were lightly lined with black kohl, and her eyelashes were curled and looking excessively long due to several coats of mascara. Her green eyes lit up her whole face with the lining and long eyelashes, and her lips were coated with a smidgeon of clear lip gloss. She grinned at herself in the mirror – it was like one of her and Isabel's dress up sessions in their room back in Gryffindor tower, but for real. This time they actually _were _going to be the belles of the ball. Lily tore her eyes away from the mirror, not quite believing what she was seeing, and turned to look at her best friend.

Isabel normally wore slightly tomboyish options at parties, pairing dresses with jeans and jackets, establishing her own style which was not really that girly – but tonight she had gone all out and indulged her femininity. The dress she had on was one she had picked out with Lily when they had nipped into the town one day in the last week (telling the boys that they were buying some food for the kitchen; when the boys said that they wanted to come, they pretended that it was the sort of food that ate boys because they smelled. It wasn't the best excuse they had come up with, and the boys saw straight through it, so instead they just sprinted off before they could respond), and she could safely say that she adored it. It was her favourite shade of brightest blue, the exact same colour as her sapphire eyes. It was fitted and floor-length, exhibiting her slim figure advantageously and strapless and tight at the waist. The material was silky and floaty, and made every movement look effortlessly graceful. On her feet were silver high heels with the most delicate of straps criss-crossing across her feet, matching the silver necklace she had around her neck. Her hair was the true masterpiece though – Lily had spent almost an hour perfecting it. Her hair was softly pulled back into a loose bun, with some curls staying around the front, framing her face. Across the top of her head, Lily had plaited some of the curls around so it gave her a beautiful Grecian style look. Her face was lightly made up, with a little grey eyeliner smudged around the corners of her eyes and some mascara, with a peach-coloured lipstick.

"We clean up well, don't we?" Lily smiled at her friend. Isabel nodded – she couldn't believe that the girl staring back at her was _her_: beautifully flawless and elegant.

"Is it nearly time to go down?" Isabel asked. Lily nodded.

"You have to stay up here don't you, and wait until everybody is in the Great Hall? Is somebody leading you down the stairs?" Lily questioned.

"Remus," Isabel answered swiftly.

"I'll make sure Sirius is standing near the bottom of the stairs," Lily winked. She hugged her best friend and left the room, knocking on the boys' door to tell them to go down with her.

Isabel breathed slowly. It would be fine... she would be graceful, walking down the stairs without tripping. She would dance with... whoever asked (preferably Sirius or the other Marauders). She would be fine... she hoped.

"Isabel? Is it okay if I come in?" she heard Remus ask from outside the door. She bit her lip and swallowed.

"It's fine," she finally said and he slowly pushed open the door and walked in.

"Wow, Isabel, you look beautiful!" he said, giving her a hug.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she complimented back. He really didn't – he hadn't gone with the whole wizard robes composition, but a black suit, white shirt and green tie.

"Thanks – do you want to go?" he suggested. Isabel slowly nodded. She had to go eventually, she couldn't stay in her room forever – it was a ball for her birthday, for crying out loud, she had to be there!

The seconds ticked by as Remus led her out of her room and down the stairs. To get to the Great Hall, you could either walk down right to the ground floor and get in through the normal door – but Isabel's parents had insisted that she should go in through the gallery at the top and descend the staircase in front of everyone. This was, for Isabel, who was not renowned for her grace and poise, more like clumsiness and lack of hand-eye coordination, inducing a lot of stress and had her breathing loudly as they walked through the passages and corridors to get to the gallery.

However, they seemed to get there quickly and Remus opened the door for her to step through. She saw all of her family and friends standing there (luckily, she had managed to dissuade her parents from the idea of inviting the Carmichaels as she didn't really want Jonas to see her with Sirius when she had denied everything) and smiled. Remus offered his arm and she took it, carefully walking down the stairs, praying that she wouldn't trip over. Lily was grinning at her happily and so was her family, but the person she sought with her eyes was Sirius – instead of standing around the edge of the room, leaving the space in the middle free to dance in, he was standing right at the bottom of the stairs, smiling at her adoringly. It was like the looks James gave Lily – something Isabel had wanted, something she had wanted to be a reality for her, instead of something she was unsure about.

"I'll take her from here, Moony," Sirius said softly, taking Isabel's hand and leading her to the floor. The music started and they began to dance, little steps and twirls whilst they stared into each other's eyes. Other couples joined them on the floor – Isabel's parents, Isabel's aunts and uncles and Lily and James. Remus stood on the side just looking at them all, slightly regretting his decision to swear off girls because of what he was, until Erienne boldly walked up to him, wearing a scarlet floor-length dress with spaghetti straps and a nipped in waist, requesting that he dance with her. He smiled and accepted, and soon they were spinning around with everybody else.

But Sirius and Isabel weren't concentrating on anybody else. All that mattered to them was the person in front of them. They danced in silence for a while – until Sirius leaned in to kiss Isabel. It wasn't just a brief kiss on the cheek, it was a proper kiss that lasted for a while when they zoned out of where they were.

"I love you, Isabel Willoughby," he smiled as they pulled apart. Isabel hugged him close.

"I love you too, Sirius Black," she replied.

"You didn't have to say it just to make me feel better," he grinned.

"Oh, don't worry, when would I say anything to make you feel better?" Isabel laughed and Sirius joined in. "I meant every word. My heart truly does beat for you."

_

* * *

_

Awwwww... not too much of a cliffhanger there! The next chapter is absolutely massive and I think you will like it - let me just say it jumps into the future... please review and thanks for reading!

:) x Lily Orange x (:


	26. Heaven

**You Leave Me Breathless**

_By Lily Orange_

Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...

_A story of romance, friendship and humour_

_"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - _Charles Caleb Colton

_A/N: _So it's the last chapter! I'm actually quite sad :'( because I love this story! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everybody who reviewed, added this story to their alerts or favourites or added me as a favourite author or to their author alerts - I siriusly (hehe) appreciate it and hope you like and enjoy this chapter. Please review like crazy and thanks for reading!

Ooh, and please listen to "Heaven" by Bryan Adams - I've found it fits Sirius and Isabel's relationship perfectly. The lyrics are at the bottom :)

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

_**Heaven**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**FIFTEEN YEARS LATER**_

* * *

A woman sat drinking coffee at a wooden table in the kitchen of her house. It was quite a cosy kitchen; warm from the steam of the kettle, filled with wooden furniture and cabinets. In one corner was the sink underneath a large window looking out onto a reasonably large garden where many creative flower arrangements were decorating the large beds around the edges. A football lay haphazardly on the grass, along with a plastic tennis racket and tennis ball. The woman looked out into her garden, where her children had left their things overnight. No doubt they would now be covered in dew, this being the rainiest first of September ever. The rain drizzled down the window panes and made a horrible cracking sound on the roof of the conservatory. She looked at the clock, and saw that it was ten o'clock. She poured the cold remains of her coffee into the sink and left the mug on the side for her to wash up later, and wandered out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

"Are you ready? We have to go in a few minutes!" she yelled up the stairs. Two children appeared over the banister at the top – obviously siblings, a girl and a boy, with the same pale skin and aristocratic features. They were both exceedingly attractive with dark brown hair. The boy had extremely blue eyes, so blue the shade was often likened to a sapphire, and the girl had grey eyes – but not a bland grey, an expressive stormy grey that complimented the soft ringlets in her hair.

"Mum, I can't find my shoes!" the girl called impatiently.

"Which pair?" her mother replied – her daughter was an avid collector of shoes, and liked to take her whole collection with her to school every year, even though she probably wouldn't need them. Her mother doubted that she partied in secret rooms like she and her friends had done, and sneaked out to Hogsmeade to the Three Broomsticks for drinks past curfew.

"My new raspberry pink ones!" she answered. "I bet _he's _got them," she said, glaring at her brother.

"What would I want with a pair of pink shoes?" he glowered. Their mother decided to ignore their little snide comments and to help her daughter find said shoes before a full-scale war broke out.

"Aren't they underneath the table in the kitchen?" her mother suggested. The girl grinned.

"Thanks!" she said, and jumped down the stairs two at a time to go and retrieve the shoes she so desperately needed.

"Are you ready Tom?" his mother asked. He nodded. It took him all of two minutes to pack – he shoved all his schoolbooks into his trunk, along with his robes and a couple of pairs of trainers and some weekend clothes. He had also shoved in his best football (his second best football being the one littering the lawn in the back garden) and his broom. He dragged his trunk down the stairs with surprising ease for a twelve-year-old, and dumped it by the door as he sauntered into the kitchen to find something to eat. His sister had found her shoes and was now trying to eat an apple at the same time as carrying them back upstairs to her suitcase.

"Hurry up, Lottie, we need to go in about" – the woman checked her watch – "two minutes," she informed her. Lottie's mouth fell open.

"But I haven't packed all my shoes yet!" she said in alarm.

"Well go and do it, love, do you want to miss the train?" she reminded her.

"No," Lottie said, rapidly shaking her head and sprinting up the stairs to her bedroom.

"Tom, take that and go and stand by the front door would you? I think it's going to take Lottie a while and we need to get to King's Cross on time," his mother smiled. He nodded and took his toast and leaned against the wall by the door.

His mother was extremely pleased with her house and immensely proud of her children. It wasn't the largest of houses, but it was comfortable for a single mother and her two children. Though from a strong wizarding background, she had bought a television, telephone and had plenty of music players around the house. The house was always filled with music – her vintage rock and pop from the sixties, seventies and eighties; Lottie's many CDs by the Weird Sisters, a wizarding band; and Tom's heavy metal. Their mother didn't mind the eclectic range of music that was constantly playing – she and their father always used to listen to music together.

"Lottie, come down now with your trunk whether your shoes are in it or not!" she bellowed.

Lottie grumbled as she dragged her trunk to the top of the stairs (stuffed to the brim with clothes and shoes) and then stared at them as if willing them to flatten so her trunk could just slide down with ease. Her mother was briefly reminded of her struggles with her own suitcase when she went to school.

"Tom!" Lottie squealed. Tom rolled his eyes and ran up the stairs and pulled her suitcase down easily.

"You should be able to pull your own damn suitcase down the stairs," Tom grumbled as their mother opened the door to let her two children and their trunks out to the car. To make it easier for them, she produced her wand and sent the trunks straight into the boot of her car. Her children made themselves comfortable in the back of the car, and then launched into squabbling about something.

Tom and Lottie were twins – not identical, of course. They were both born on the thirtieth of July, an hour apart. Tom was the older twin – and was very protective of his sister, even though she was adamant that she could protect herself. They were about to enter their second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – and were both, their mother was proud to say, in Gryffindor and very clever. They were also alarmingly good at Quidditch and pulling pranks. Their mother liked to think that they had traits from both of their parents shining through their personalities.

"Mum, turn the song up!" Lottie demanded as they pulled out of their little London suburban close, Rosewood Lane.

She obliged, and soon Lottie was singing along loudly whilst Tom banged his head against the window repeatedly.

"_I got my first real six string, bought it at the five-and-dime! Played it till my fingers bled, was the summer of sixty-nine_!" she sang loudly.

"My head will bleed in a minute," he interjected. Lottie ignored him. She sang reasonably well and enjoyed singing along to any tune that she knew. This was one of her mother's favourites – but she didn't sing along like her daughter did.

"_Me and some guys from school had a band and we tried real hard! Jimmy quit, Joey got married, shoulda known, we'd never get far_!" she continued.

"Lottie shut up!" Tom pleaded, holding his head in his hands.

"I'm enjoying the song Tom, why don't you join in? _Those were the best days of my life_!" she said, waving her arms around wildly, which was quite an achievement in such a small car.

"Lottie, stop it, you'll take someone's eye out," her mother warned. They slowly crawled along the roads to King's Cross. Once they got past the traffic lights at this corner, they would be there within fifteen minutes. It was now twenty past ten and she was praying that the lights wouldn't change again before they got to go through them. She peered out of the window and saw them flash amber and red – then green.

The cars rushed forward in a hope to get through the timed lights, and they were approaching them, about to get through – then red.

She stopped reluctantly. She would have to wait for about another five minutes now as they took so long to change.

She glanced around, her sapphire blue eyes scanning the area around her car. She stared at the pavement outside a three-storey Georgian building. She was looking at nothing in particular, but zoning out of the bickering in the back of the car.

Suddenly, she saw something that she couldn't quite believe she was seeing and blinked rapidly to see if it disappeared and she was imagining things. She still had an overactive imagination, the melodrama still present – she still let her imagination run away with her sometimes. But no, after blinking several times and closing her eyes and reopening them, the sight was still there.

A shaggy black dog was standing on the corner of the pavement, staring intently at her. It bought back memories, memories she had been trying to forget.

_Before they could even step in slightly more to kiss, Sirius stepped back._

"_I think before we get together we have to be truthful with each other," he said. _

"_Why, was there anything you wanted to tell me?" she stammered nervously._

"_You already know about my being an illegal animagus," he laughed._

"_Can I see you as an animagus though?" she asked._

_Sirius grinned and suddenly transformed into a shaggy black dog, running into the waves and splashing around._

She would know that dog anywhere. But it couldn't be him – he was locked up in Azkaban – it was just a seriously similar animal to his animagus form. Yes. She comforted herself with this thought whilst she stared at the dog as if there was nothing else about except her and it.

Cars beeping bought her out of her reverie and she came to her senses.

"Mum, go, the lights are on green!" Tom said, and Isabel surged the car forward in the direction of King's Cross station.

*

Tom and Lottie were battling with the luggage trolleys, hurtling towards walls and narrowly missing people as they chased each other through the station like maniacs. Normally Isabel would have been the sensible mother and told them to stop it and be sensible, but she was out of it. She was still running over the brief memory in her head – the dog on the corner. She was pretty sure dogs didn't stare at people in cars like that. Perhaps it was a highly intelligent dog. It – yes, _it_, not he – was just staring into space, like she was before she clocked it.

"Hi Isabel," she heard somebody say. She spun round – and couldn't believe who was standing in front of her.

"Oh my Merlin – Remus, is that really you?" she grinned happily, throwing her arms around her old friend.

"It's me, Isabel," Remus laughed. "What are you doing here?"

Isabel hadn't seen Remus since that night when her whole world had come crashing down around her shoulders – when Lily and James died, and then Sirius had blasted Peter apart along with all those muggles after it was revealed that he had sold his friends to Voldemort. Whilst he got carted off to Azkaban, Isabel rushed straight to Remus' house and into his comforting arms. After that, she had moved into a different area on the edge of London and started a new life. She still occasionally saw old school friends – but she hadn't strived to keep any old relationships with friends going. She had been busy juggling motherhood with her job – manager of Flourish and Blotts. She could have gone into the Ministry of Magic and been a high flying career lady, with the results she gained with her NEWTs – "Outstanding" in everything. But she preferred this. It was relatively close to home and she could read everything she liked.

"I'm dropping off my children," she said.

"Children? What year are they in?" Remus asked inquisitively.

"Second – Tom and Lottie," she told him.

"So... if you don't mind me asking... do you have a husband now?"

"It's fine, Remus, it's fine – no, I don't," she answered. "Do you have a wife?"

"No – still plain old Remus Lupin, bachelor," he grinned. He looked slightly older than he was, still weary and tired with his werewolf affliction. "So are they Tom and Lottie Willoughby?"

"No," Isabel replied, "they're Tom and Lottie Urquhart. And I'm Isabel Urquhart."

"Urquhart? So was he the, er, father of your children?" Remus asked cautiously. Isabel smiled. For some reason, she didn't mind Remus asking all these questions. Anybody else and she would have, but Remus was a good friend, even if she hadn't seen him for twelve years.

"Not exactly – but I don't want to arouse suspicion," she said, glancing at the ring on her finger. It was a gold band with a ruby on it, surrounded by dozens of tiny little diamonds. An engagement ring.

"You still wear it?" Remus asked sympathetically.

"Never took it off," she said sadly. "I can't bear to part with it. I want to forget the memories – but I want to hold on to them as much as I want to forget."

"MUM!"

Isabel and Remus spun round to see Tom and Lottie racing towards them, their trunks still on the trolleys (Isabel didn't know how with the reckless way they were racing them) grinning maniacally.

They abruptly stopped in front of Isabel when they saw she was talking to somebody they didn't know.

For Remus, seeing Isabel's children was like a blast from the past. They both had the alabaster skin of their mother, the aristocratic features of their father and they were both tall for their ages and very attractive – a trait from both parents. Tom was the spitting image of his father – except for the eyes. He had his mother's sparkling sapphire eyes that glinted in the light magically. Lottie was her mother's double, with her father's familiar stormy grey eyes.

"Tom, Lottie, this is Remus – Remus Lupin. He was one of my closest friends at school," Isabel introduced.

"Hello," Remus said pleasantly, shaking both of their hands.

"So, what are you doing here Remus if you're not dropping children off?" Isabel asked – it was her turn to quiz him now.

"I'm actually the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," Remus smiled.

"Really? Oh Remus, that's great!" Isabel beamed at him. He was so clever and would be brilliant at teaching.

"Thank you. Shall we go towards the platform?" he suggested. Tom and Lottie nodded, and ran off, racing the trolleys like they had been doing before.

"They are supposed to be keeping a low profile!" Isabel said exasperatedly.

"They're just kids, it doesn't matter," Remus laughed. "But they are truly the spitting image of both of their parents. Tom is his double."

"I know – it's like watching a twelve-year-old version of him come down for breakfast every morning," she said forlornly. "Remus – I saw the weirdest thing this morning. I think I might have been hallucinating."

"I'm sure you weren't," he said, looking slightly amused. "What was it?"

"Well, I stopped my car at some traffic lights and I was just staring out of the window and I saw a shaggy black dog," she said.

"A shaggy black dog – like his animagus form?" Remus whispered.

"Exactly. I could remember it clearly, I would never forget it. And the dog stared at me intently until we drove past," she said.

"Isabel – have you been reading the '_Daily Prophet_' recently? Or watched the TV? Or been out?" Remus asked.

"Well, I've been off work for the past three weeks looking after Tom and Lottie, I cancelled my '_Daily Prophet_' order and I haven't watched the news," Isabel replied uncertainly.

"So you haven't heard?" Remus persisted.

"Heard what?" she said. Remus pulled her behind a pillar where it was slightly quieter.

"Sirius has escaped from Azkaban," he said gravely.

"Oh my Merlin," Isabel said. That was all she could say – she didn't know what else to do. It was like somebody had just dropped something extremely heavy on her head, like her heart was pounding in her head. "He – he's escaped?"

"Yes. It's been on the muggle news too," Remus said.

"You know Remus, even after all these years, I still can't believe that he did it – I still don't think that it was him who betrayed them," Isabel said, a tear moistening her eye.

"I don't want to believe it either – but, as far as we know, he was the only person who knew where they were. He was their Secret Keeper. Only he would have known, only he would have had the information to do it," Remus said. Always the voice of reason – but the voice of reason was not necessarily what Isabel wanted to hear.

"I still love him, Remus," Isabel whispered.

"I know," he said, smiling sadly. He pulled her into a hug.

They proceeded towards the platform. They went through the barrier and entered the mysterious and magical platform of nine and three quarters – Isabel wished it was her going back to Hogwarts, sixteen again. She hugged Remus before he got on the train.

"Write to me, please," she begged as he got on. He nodded and smiled. He had a feeling she would need it this year.

Isabel turned to see a family coming through the barrier, all with flaming red hair. The Weasleys. She vaguely knew them, but the person she saw coming through the barrier with them, laughing and joking, shocked her even more. She had had her fair share of shocks this morning, but this topped them all off – Harry Potter. He must have been Harry Potter. She hadn't seen him since he was one, but he was now the spitting image of James. But – in a similar fashion to the way Tom looked like his father and had his mother's eyes – he had the same emerald eyes as Lily. Isabel had to physically stop herself from gawping at the poor boy. Her godson. The godson she had never spoken to, except send him presents on his birthdays. He always replied with a kind thank you letter, but he didn't really know who she was. She knew that. And she couldn't properly reveal who she was with this Sirius business going on.

*

Isabel went back to work for the afternoon in Diagon Alley. She hadn't been in there for three weeks, so it was quite nice to have something to do. The assistants, Finnola, Edward and Sarah had kept the shop tidy and organised, and gave her a warm welcome when she came into the shop after having a sandwich at the Leaky Cauldron. She saw the large poster in the window declaring to the public that Sirius Black had escaped – the photo certainly didn't do him any justice. He looked like a shadow of his former self, but the same piercing grey eyes were there, and he still looked vaguely handsome, even though he had thinned out and he looked slightly sinister. She stood there staring at the poster for a while until she was interrupted by Finnola.

"Such a terrible thing he did, wasn't it?" she said conversationally.

"Yes," Isabel replied briefly. She still didn't believe that he had done it. Sirius wasn't evil – Sirius was a good person. And she didn't believe that he could have changed in his twelve years in Azkaban. Maybe he might have gone a little mad, but that was to be expected.

"So many muggles!" she commented, putting some books on the shelves.

"I know – I'm just going to go and re-alphabetize the books upstairs, okay?" Isabel said. She needed to be by herself to think about things for a bit. Otherwise she would send herself insane.

Sirius had escaped.

_She could see him._

No, she couldn't. He had escaped after he had been put there on a murder charge.

_She still loved him._

Yes, but she couldn't tell the world that. She couldn't tell the world that she loved him and had had...

_She could tell him the truth._

No she couldn't. She would probably ruin more than one life that way.

Thoughts raced through her mind as she stacked the books up properly. She was just putting _The Definitive Guide to Dragons _by Dragomir Fiero on the shelf when she heard a scream downstairs. Finnola was normally melodramatic (much like herself in her younger days) and screeched at everything. But today Isabel was more on edge and needed to find out what she was screaming at. She rushed downstairs and saw that Finnola was trying to shoo a dog out of the shop with a broom. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw that it was a shaggy black dog – the same dog that she had seen on the corner this morning.

"Finnola, I'll take care of this," she said boldly. She walked down the stairs, for once not stumbling, and stood by the dog.

"Make it go away, Isabel!" Finnola squealed, running to hide behind the desk. "It might have fleas!"

"I'll walk it up to the other end of the Alley, okay?" Isabel said. Finnola nodded. Edward and Sarah rolled their eyes at their young colleague's dramatics and smiled at Isabel, who normally coped with them. "I'll be back in about fifteen or twenty minutes."

She left the shop and dog willingly ran along beside her. She walked right up the alley, past Gringott's and all the shops that people normally went in, and up to a part of Diagon Alley where people didn't normally walk up to. There was a second hand bookshop, but there were no customers in there, and then a few boarded up shops. Isabel checked to see if there was anybody around and, casting a few spells, opened up the boarded up door on one of the shops and let the dog in. She followed and shut it behind her. They went into a backroom of the shop so that nobody would see them.

The dog sat there on the floor, wagging its tail.

"I know who you are," Isabel said accusingly to the dog. "I know that it's you, Sirius."

The dog blinked – and Isabel caught sight of its grey eyes, exactly the same eyes that were on her daughter's face, that she had undoubtedly inherited from her father.

"Just please – I need answers," she begged. The dog stood up on all fours and within nanoseconds, the dog had disappeared and stood before her was a very tall, very skinny man. He was wearing dilapidated prison robes of grey and black stripes. His face looked strangely hollow – but he still looked effortlessly handsome, in Isabel's opinion.

"I knew it was you." This time it wasn't Isabel who spoke, but Sirius. He stepped towards her – Isabel flinched involuntarily.

"Did you sell James and Lily to Voldemort?" Isabel asked. She needed the answer. She still didn't believe that he did. He wasn't like that – the Sirius she knew would never do that.

"Do you believe that I would do such a thing?" he asked, stepping closer again. This time she didn't flinch – she wanted him to get closer.

"Actually, I don't. I never believed that you did it – you wouldn't do such a thing. James was like your brother – he _was_ your brother – and I know you. You would have died rather than betray your friends," Isabel said boldly. Sirius smiled – amazingly, it was the same audacious grin that she remembered from all those years ago.

"I'm glad you said that – I didn't betray them, Iz," he said, using his old nickname for her. Nobody had called her that for twelve years. "It was Peter."

"Peter?" Isabel echoed in disbelief. Naive, vulnerable Peter who liked to be protected by his friends?

"I know. I thought when Lily and James made me their Secret Keeper, that it would be obvious that I would be it. James Potter's best friend, Lily Evans' occasional annoyer" – Isabel chuckled at this – "and Harry Potter's godfather. So I persuaded them to make Peter their Secret Keeper instead. Nobody but me, Peter, Lily and James knew the arrangement – I'm sorry I never told you. So when they died, Peter yelled to the whole street that I had betrayed Lily and James and he cut off his finger, transformed into a rat, blasted apart the street killing all those muggles and left me to the Dementors."

"So... is he still alive?" Isabel asked tentatively. Sirius stared at her intently.

"He's the reason I broke out of Azkaban," he answered. "He's alive. He's living as a rat."

"Do you know where he is?" Isabel continued questioning him.

"He's at Hogwarts," Sirius said.

"With Tom and Lottie?" Isabel said in alarm. She hoped her children would go nowhere near that sneaking rat.

Sirius eyed her with confusion. "Who are Tom and Lottie?"

Isabel sighed. She'd have to tell him the truth. There was no other way around it.

"You know, Sirius, I always admired your honesty. That was the thing I always loved about you. So now I'm going to be honest with you. You might want to sit down," she warned him.

"No, I'm fine," he said, leaning up against the wall. Isabel couldn't believe that he acted the same as he did before. Now he was talking to somebody he was beginning to look better – his good looks shining through once more.

"No, honestly, you really want to sit down," Isabel persisted.

"For Merlin's sake," Sirius laughed, "I'm fine woman. Hit me with your worst."

"Well I'll start with something simple... I never married or went out with anyone after you," she said. Sirius smiled happily. "And I never took my engagement ring off."

She held out her hand for him to examine – he took her hand to examine the ruby and diamond encrusted ring that was still on her finger. Isabel couldn't ignore the electric sparks that she still felt when he touched her.

Sirius and Isabel, technically, had been engaged for twelve years. The day before Lily and James had died, on the thirtieth of October, Sirius had asked Isabel to marry him. She, of course, had said yes. They had planned a summer wedding for the next year, on the beach in Cornwall, with the castle in the background. Unfortunately other events had gotten in the way.

"You never took it off?" he asked.

"Never – because I always believed that you were innocent and that one day they would find it out and you could come back to me and that we could get married," Isabel told him.

He moved forward to cup her face in his hands. She felt the tingling sensation again. "Is that still the dream?" he asked.

"It was, is and always will be my dream," she said, "but there is something else I have to tell you before we talk about that."

"So businesslike, still," Sirius teased, leaning back against the wall.

"It's not a laughing matter," she warned him. "Well... about Tom and Lottie... they're my children..."

"I thought you said you haven't been with anybody else!" Sirius growled.

"I haven't," she said. He looked dazed for a second and then a look of realisation crossed his face.

"How old are Tom and Lottie?" he asked.

"Twelve. They're twins – their birthday is the thirtieth of July," she told him.

"They're my children too, aren't they?" he said quietly.

"They are. I found out I was pregnant about a month after you were taken to Azkaban – remember, when we got engaged, that night I stayed at your flat and we slept together?" she reminded him.

"I have children," he repeated to himself as if to let the message sink in. "What are their full names?"

"Thomas Sirius and Charlotte Isabel," Isabel replied.

"Lovely names," he complimented. "I guess... I guess they don't know anything about me?"

"They know hardly anything about their father. I told them he had to leave in the Wizarding War, and that he loved them very much but circumstances were too difficult for him to stay," she said. It was truthful.

"And I'm also guessing that they were not enrolled into Hogwarts under the names Thomas Sirius Black and Charlotte Isabel Black, were they?" he asked.

"No. And you know in the Wizarding War I had to change my name to Isabel Urquhart? Well, I carried on living as that. They're enrolled with the last name Urquhart," she said.

"Tom and Lottie Urquhart? Do you think... do you think I will ever get to know them?" he asked apprehensively.

"Would you like to get to know them?" Isabel said sceptically.

"Of course," he grinned.

"It might be slightly difficult for you at the moment, you being a wanted man and everything – but I think in the future, it's a definite possibility," Isabel smiled.

Sirius stepped towards her again so there was only about an inch of space between their faces. "And do you want us to make the dream a reality in the future?"

"I still love you, Sirius," Isabel whispered.

"I still love you too. I thought about you every day in Azkaban – I wanted to be with you. I hoped and prayed that someday we could be reunited," he murmured.

"Sirius – I hoped for that too. I need to get back to work though, I've been gone almost an hour and I said I'd only be twenty minutes," she said urgently. "But... have this," she said as an afterthought. She unclasped her handbag and bought out her purse. Out of it she took a small moving picture of Tom and Lottie, a recent one, taken about a fortnight ago. "Keep it. It's our children." She smiled at him, and went towards the door, but came back. She looked up at him and kissed his cheek before leaving.

Sirius stood there alone for a few minutes, gazing at the beautiful picture of his children. A teardrop fell from his eye – he pocketed it and transformed back into a shaggy black dog and wandered out into the street, intending to find out where Isabel lived so that he could visit her many more times before going to Hogwarts to kill Peter Pettigrew – the man who had ruined so many lives.

*

Three days later Isabel was at home, eating the tea she had cooked for herself. It was past ten o'clock, and she was wearing her pyjamas, long pyjama bottoms patterned with red tartan and a dark blue vest top, at the table. She missed it when her kids weren't there – Tom and Lottie lit the place up. She had photos of her and them plastered everywhere, as well as drawings and bits of writing they had done when they were little pinned up. And after her encounter with Sirius, she had decided to get out her old photos – the ones of her at Hogwarts and the few years afterwards until Lily and James died. The box of photos was sat, unopened, in front of her whilst she stared at it fixedly, eating her lasagne and salad. She wanted to look at them – but was unsure. She didn't have anybody to look at them with, to laugh with, to cry with or to reminisce with. It was at this time she needed Sirius – she needed him to look at the old photos with her. It was more than moral support she needed – she needed to feel his arms around her once more. She wanted to kiss him again, to have him next to her, giving her butterflies and making her skin tingle.

The mere thought of him was enough to make her want to open the box and glance at the photos once more, something she hadn't done since he had gone to Azkaban. She decided to take the plunge and look at the dozens of photos she had collected.

They started from her first year at Hogwarts – her and Lily together several times, smiling, waving, pulling stupid faces; the Marauders, looking cool, then all grinning maniacally, then all trying to hide behind Peter as he looked sheepish. Isabel couldn't help smiling at this one even if it contained the boy who had sold two of her best friends to Voldemort and had put her innocent fiancé and closest friend into Azkaban. The photos then progressed through second, third, fourth and fifth year – there were more and more photos of Isabel and Sirius then: he astonishingly and prematurely handsome, she curly-haired and laughing. Most of the school photos were of sixth and seventh year – Sirius and Isabel playing Exploding Snap in their pyjamas, James and Lily dancing together at Sirius' party, Isabel with Jonas.

Isabel felt a twinge with Jonas. She had bumped into him, five years before, when he had come into Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. He was still reasonably attractive, tall and boyishly funny – but he had had a supermodel-like blonde girl with him Isabel had presumed to be his girlfriend. Well, she was his girlfriend no more after he tried to make a pass at Isabel and then almost fainted when she told him that she had children. There had been plenty of offers for dates – sometimes she had felt like there were no other women in London – but she hadn't wanted to go with anybody else. It didn't feel right if it wasn't Sirius.

The pictures of Lily and James' wedding brought tears to her eyes too – Lily had insisted that Isabel should wear the blue dress that she had worn to her seventeen birthday ball, and she looked radiant – though nobody could compare to Lily on that day. She looked so beautiful it was ethereal, with her red hair pinned back and her pretty face smiling and laughing in every picture. Isabel gazed at Lily's gorgeous dress, tiered with lace but not meringue-like in the least.

There was a photo which Lily had _insisted _upon taking of Isabel and Sirius – she had demanded that they kiss for the photo, so they had, but they had got slightly too involved so what Lily had captured was an overly passionate embrace that, in Isabel's opinion, should _not_ have been captured on camera.

Rifling through the photos, Isabel found that all the memories that she thought she had forgotten were now coming back to her – and it wasn't painful. It was a good thing.

Isabel decided that she would put some of the photos up in her bedroom, to preserve the precious memories that meant the world to her.

She had now finished her food, so put the plate in the sink, ready for washing in the morning, and grabbed her box of photos and took them upstairs. She walked past the rooms on the first floor and then up a little spiral staircase which led to her attic bedroom. She adored attic bedrooms – it stemmed out of her attic room she had had in her childhood home in Cornwall, where her parents still lived.

On the dresser, she swept aside the bits of jewellery and makeup (she still hadn't changed since adolescence – although now, the only places she had to go to were the bookshop launch parties, and it wasn't as fun getting ready without Lily) into a drawer and started propping the photos up to create a nice little display. When done, she smiled.

Now she had all these memories and was thinking about her times with Lily, she felt like sixteen-year-old Isabel again. In the spirit of this, she decided to put on some music. She perused her CD collection until she found one of her and – she had to admit it – Sirius' favourites, and stuck it in the player. She then went to the back of her wardrobe and found her trusty black peep-toe heels which she always used to wear because they made her almost the same height as Sirius. She slid her feet into them and began to jump around the room singing along to the song.

"_I saw him dancin' there by the record machine, I knew he must'a been about seventeen, the beat was going strong, playing my favourite song, an' I could tell it wouldn't be long, until he was with me, YEAH ME!_"

She kicked off the shoes and jumped onto her bed, waving her arms around wildly.

"_I LOVE ROCK N' ROLL, so put another dime in the jukebox baby!_"

It was just like being seventeen again.

*

Sometime the following May, Isabel had a curious letter from Remus which worried her slightly. Apparently Harry had come to him with the Marauder's Map – Isabel couldn't believe that Filch still had that in his drawer after he confiscated it off the Marauders in seventh year. Somehow Harry must have found it. But anyway, Harry had found the Marauder's Map, and told him that he didn't think it worked because he saw somebody he knew to be dead on it. Remus, of course, asked who; Harry replied, "Peter Pettigrew." This of course meant that what Sirius had told her was true – he was innocent. Peter must have been living as a rat all these years. Isabel hadn't told Remus about her various encounters with Sirius, each of them leaving her wanting more, every time he touched her she felt sparks. She wanted Sirius to be cleared of all charges so that they could live as a happy family and have the wedding on the Cornish coast.

So Isabel made the quick decision to have a week off work and to go and stay in Hogsmeade where she could find out what was going on.

That night, before she left, she sent a letter to Remus telling her what she was going to do. She packed her bag – her old Hogwarts trunk. She filled it with random items of clothing and pairs of shoes, and then took down all her photos, carefully filed them back into the box they had sat in inside her wardrobe for twelve years and put it inside her suitcase too. She clung on to her memories now as if they were a drug she was addicted to – she had spent so long trying to shut them out but now they were a huge part of her.

She left her car and stood in her back garden, and focussed on Hogsmeade – it was now around eight in the evening, so the Three Broomsticks would be busy, but hopefully Madam Rosmerta would find her a room. Hopefully she would remember her – Isabel used to spend lots of time in the Three Broomsticks with Sirius (and the rest of the Marauders).

She closed her eyes and when they were open, she found herself in Hogsmeade – and saw, for the first time in nearly sixteen years, Hogwarts castle overshadowing the little wizarding village. It was absolutely breathtaking. She stood their admiring it for a few minutes, but then remembered what she was there for.

The Three Broomsticks, as she had predicted, was very busy. Fortunately, they had a room spare – and Rosmerta remembered her quite clearly. Despite her thirty-four years of age, Isabel still looked quite youthful. Her brown hair was still curly and her sapphire eyes still glinted impishly whenever she laughed. She was still incredibly tall and slim, though she did have some curves now.

"I'll put you in here, dear – it's quite a cosy little room, I think," Rosmerta said pleasantly as she opened the door into a room which was, admittedly, rather small – but was very cosy. It had a four-poster bed, reminiscent of those in the Hogwarts bedrooms, with flowery curtains and a matching bedspread. There was a chest of drawers and an ensuite bathroom, which Isabel immediately went into to take a shower. The hot water was soothing on her – she hadn't quite realised how much she had tensed up with everything going on at the moment. She completely zoned out of everything as she spent her customary fifteen minutes showering herself, and then, when she stepped out of the relaxing warm water, everything came back to her. She quickly dried her hair, singing to herself quietly as she did so, and put on her comfy pyjamas – the tartan ones. She was just sitting down on her bed to look through her photos again, something she did obsessively, when there was a knock at the door. She pulled her dressing gown on and opened it. At the door stood Remus, looking tired and pale, but also agitated and as if something terrible was going on.

"Remus! Do you want to come in?" Isabel suggested.

"Isabel – would you come back up to the castle with me? I think something strange is going on – and I think tonight is the night that Sirius and Peter will have their confrontation. We need to capture Peter, Isabel, so that we can prove Sirius' innocence," Remus told her.

"Okay – just let me change," she said. She went back into the bathroom and almost tore off her pyjamas she was doing it so hastily and climbed into a pair of jeans and a blue top – and slipped her feet into a pair of black Converse.

"I see it's the same footwear as ever," Remus commented when she emerged.

"Of course," she nodded. She locked the room as they walked briskly out of the pub and in the direction of the castle.

"Do you know exactly what's going on up there?" she asked apprehensively.

"No – but we need to make sure we stop Peter," he replied. They let themselves in the gates, past the Dementors – and then they broke into a run. Isabel was still agile, still running like when she was a teenager. It was surprising how many things she had done this year had made her feel like the years had dissolved away and that she was sixteen again. It felt good.

"Hang on a sec – have you got the map?" Isabel asked as they paused by the lake.

"Yes," Remus said – he swiftly pulled it out of his pocket. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Lines began to spread out across the previously blank parchment, like a spider's web forming in quickened motion. Isabel still marvelled at it – though after so many years, she felt that she was allowed to be fascinated by the Marauder's premature intelligence.

"Harry, Ron and Hermione are outside the Whomping Willow – Peter is right next to Ron," Remus breathed. "And here comes Sirius – he's running towards Ron, Ron, Peter and Sirius are being dragged into the passageway to the Shrieking Shack... Harry and Hermione are following them. Isabel, you stay hidden in the bushes beside the Whomping Willow. I'll go in after them – if Peter tries to escape, do something about it."

"Of course – and Remus?" she said apprehensively. He turned back from his large strides towards the irrepressible tree.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Be careful," she said, giving him a quick hug. He smiled and raced off.

Isabel stuck to the task she had been given – to hide in the bushes outside the Whomping Willow. If Peter even dared to try and escape, she would have many words to say about it. He disgusted her – killing his friends and then framing his other friend and faking his own death. Words could not explain the hatred she felt for the man. In her eyes, he was still the sweet little innocent boy who struggled with his schoolwork – but now she was starting to realise that perhaps he was a lot more devious and intelligent than they originally thought.

She was sat in the bushes for perhaps five minutes when she saw a shadowed figure approaching the tree, reminiscent of an over-sized bat. When she saw his sallow face lit by the moon, she recognised him at once: Severus Snape. Severus Snape, the boy who had called her deceased best friend a "mudblood". Severus Snape, the boy and man who had hated the Marauders all his life. She despaired at the fact he was going in, but she couldn't stop him.

She just wanted Sirius to be free.

*

Sirius was talking to Harry, his godson, as they supported Harry's best friend Ron Weasley – who seemed to have broken his leg. Sirius was making rapid apologies, because it was he who had accidentally broken Ron's leg. Ron was being quite good-natured about it – though whenever Hermione came near started complaining, only to be showered with sympathy.

"Listen Harry – there's somebody that I would like you to meet," he said.

"Who?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Well – she's your godmother," Sirius told him.

"She sends me cards and presents every birthday and Christmas, but I don't think I've ever met her," Harry said sadly.

"You did, you have – you met her virtually every day between the day you were born and the day your... well, you know. But she had to go into hiding because of an entirely different reason," Sirius said.

"Why? Do you know her well?" Harry asked inquisitively.

"She was – is, my fiancée," he said quietly. "Isabel Willoughby – well, she lives with her children as Isabel Urquhart."

"Urquhart? I've heard that name before," Harry said absentmindedly.

"You probably have," Sirius told him – "Tom and Lottie Urquhart."

"Oh yeah, year below me! They're her kids? They are really nice – Lottie's really pretty but she's also really brainy, and Tom already has girls three years above him falling at his feet but all he's bothered about is making the Quidditch team," Harry described them kindly.

"How come you know them so well?" Sirius questioned, intrigued.

"Well, they're Gryffindors," Harry said, as if it was obvious.

"Gryffindors? No kidding?" Sirius said, grinning inanely. The same grin that had charmed so many girls at school and he had used when laughing with his friends – the grin that had been coming back ever since he left Azkaban. "Chips off the old block..."

"Yep," Harry smiled. "So, did her first husband die or something?"

"She never had a first husband... or a boyfriend after sixth year, to be honest," Sirius said thoughtfully. Harry eyed him quizzically.

Ron looked completely confused. "Hang on, so Tom and Lottie Urquhart's mum never had a husband? So who's their father then?"

"Ron, you big idiot, haven't you worked out who it is?" Hermione interjected from behind – she had been listening to the whole conversation with much interest.

"Er, no," he said stupidly. "My leg hurts too much for me to think properly..."

Hermione ignored this, not offering him any sympathy, like the last three dozen times he had reminded her that he was injured. "Well think about it – she never had a boyfriend after sixth year. Sirius is her fiancé – and, without meaning to be rude, Sirius, I don't think he proposed to her after escaping from Azkaban," Hermione pointed out.

"So the father is..." Ron said vaguely.

"Sirius!" Hermione told him exasperatedly. Sirius smiled proudly.

"You're very bright for your age," Sirius complimented – Hermione blushed.

"So – Tom and Lottie? Your kids?" Harry said in shock. Sirius nodded. "Wow – actually, I thought you looked kind of familiar. Tom is the spitting image of you – but Lottie has the same eyes."

"Then you won't mind me telling you that you look so like your father – but you have your mother's eyes. I'm sure you're tired of hearing this by now, Harry, but it's true – there's not a day that goes by in which I don't miss your dad, or your mum," Sirius whispered. Harry beamed at him. Anything remotely like his parents in him he was immensely pleased of – especially when others recognised it in him.

Behind them, Remus had Peter bound in chains and was pushing him along – though not brutally. Peter was feeling very sorry for himself, but he only had himself to blame. He was the one who sold Lily and James to Voldemort and then tried to frame his other friend, who had suffered twelve years in Azkaban because of Peter's lies and deceit. Nobody would ever pity him again. Ever.

They came out of the tunnel and wandered slightly further out of the vicinity of the Whomping Willow's branches – they didn't want to get hit.

"We'll take Peter straight to the castle – we want you to be cleared of everything," Remus said to his friend. Sirius grinned. It felt good for them all to know that he was innocent.

Just as they began the short walk towards the castle, they were suddenly aware of something silvery and luminous behind them. They all spun round – and saw the full moon.

Fear overtook Remus. He could feel his body beginning to shake – and knew that it wouldn't be long until he transformed. He dropped his wand whilst Sirius ran to him to help.

"Remus, my friend, have you taken your potion tonight?" he asked hurriedly as Remus shook. "This heart is where you live, Remus, this heart!"

His words weren't working, and Remus was slowly turning into a wolf. Peter suddenly spotted his chance – he quickly waved smugly to the stunned teenagers before him; but before he had any chance to say the spell that would turn him back into a rat, there was a loud cry from behind the bushes.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

Isabel emerged from the bushes and ran over to the suddenly body-bound Peter, who lay on the floor stiffly. She forgot that Remus was rapidly turning into a wolf and quickly said numerous spells to stop Peter from doing anything to escape. There was no way she was going to let him get away again – there was no way she was losing Sirius.

There was a howling sound. Isabel looked up, her sapphire eyes wide, seeing the hungry-looking werewolf advancing towards her, the expression in his eyes as if he would pounce and devour her any second.

But before he could get any closer, there was the angry sound of a dog barking. A shaggy black dog leapt at the werewolf, chasing him off towards the forest.

"Come back to the castle with me, we need to get Wormtail to the Dementors!" Isabel said, ushering the teenagers towards the castle. She levitated Peter (and Snape, for that matter, who was still knocked out and would probably be heavily concussed when he awoke) whilst Harry and Hermione supported Ron.

"Are you... Isabel?" Harry asked timidly.

"Yes – and I can assure you that your mum and dad would be very proud of you right now, Harry," Isabel smiled as they entered the castle courtyard.

"Do you want us to show you the way to Dumbledore's office?" Hermione offered.

"No thank you dear – I can remember the way perfectly well," she chuckled.

As soon as they reached the statue outside Professor Dumbledore's office, it immediately sprung aside. Isabel smiled softly as they rode the staircase up to his office – and when the door was opened, it was familiar as ever.

Professor Dumbledore was sat behind his desk, looking very surprised at the sight before him – but also very pleased.

"Well, Miss Willoughby! What a pleasure it is to see you – and I see you have Mr Pettigrew with you – I trust that you, along with Harry, Ron and Hermione here, have an interesting story to tell?" he asked kindly. Isabel nodded. Dumbledore conjured up a stretcher for Ron to lie on as they related to the headmaster their tale.

Upon finishing, Professor Dumbledore was silent for a few moments.

"So Sirius is, in fact, perfectly innocent, and it is Peter here who killed all those Muggles?" he said. They nodded.

"Well, I believe we have a man to declare free and a man to hand over to the Dementors," he said. He turned to a portrait and asked them to go and fetch Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. He then looked back – "Where is Sirius now?"

"He's controlling Lup– I mean, Professor Lupin, sir – it's a full moon tonight," Harry told him. Dumbledore's eyes widened in alarm and stood up.

"The night shall soon be over, and Professor Lupin shall be restored to his former self – and we can then declare Sirius a free man. We now have to wait for the Minister, Sirius and Professor Lupin but I think also that we should go and invite two Gryffindor students to come and have a few things explained to them, don't you think, Isabel?" Dumbledore said wisely. Isabel nodded.

Dumbledore turned to Hermione.

"Would you please go and get Tom and Lottie Urquhart – and on your way, ask Madam Pomfrey to come and tend to Mr Weasley, Miss Granger? Thank you," he said softly as Hermione obliged and left the office.

"They will hate me for not telling the truth," Isabel fretted.

"They could never hate you, Miss Willoughby – I think they need all their questions answering," Dumbledore said solemnly.

*

Tom Urquhart was fast asleep in his dormitory which he shared with his friends, four other second-years. It was in the early hours of the morning, and Tom was having a very pleasant dream. It involved him and a very pretty third-year in Ravenclaw called Calista Watkins who had been staring at him during dinner – in it, Calista was floating around wearing a red dress and proclaiming her love for him. He was even smiling in his sleep – something Hermione Granger observed when she led the groggy Lottie into his dorm to wake him up.

"Do you want me to wake him?" Hermione asked. Lottie shrugged.

"I'll do it myself," she replied, and stepped towards her brother's bed. She tipped her head slightly to the left and knelt down. Then she positioned herself right next to his ear, and shouted, (with, Hermione observed, a loudness surpassing the usual human decibel limit) "OI! TOM!"

Tom was so shocked by this he immediately woke up and fell off the bed in surprise. Lottie merely chuckled at her brother's fall but Hermione instantly offered to help him up. Tom's eyes widened in shock at the third year being in his room, with his sister.

"Er, Lottie, what's going on?" he asked in trepidation.

"Professor Dumbledore wants to see us," Lottie told him simply. "Get up."

Tom got up, threw on his dressing gown and followed the two girls down the stairs into the common room, and out into the corridors in the direction of the Headmaster's office. He was very tired and still savouring the content of his dream to dwell over for the next few days when Hermione uttered the password to get back into the office.

When they entered the room, before drinking in the sight of all the magical instruments, portraits, countless books and strange pieces of furniture, they saw the people in there. Professor Dumbledore was sat behind his desk with his hands clasped. Madam Pomfrey was tending to the broken leg of Ron Weasley. Harry Potter was sat beside Ron, and was now joined by Hermione Granger. In the corner, an immobilised man sat, bound in chains, his weird eyes darting round the room in fear of what was about to happen. And on a chair in front of Professor Dumbledore's desk, was their mother.

"Mum! What are you doing here?" Lottie asked concernedly, throwing her arms around her mother and taking the seat to her left. Tom quietly sat in the seat on his mother's right, perplexed as to what was going on.

"I think it best that I explain first to you, Mr and Miss Urquhart. You, of course, know how good a mother has been to you over the years. She has overcome not only great personal loss, but also unbelievable tragedy, before you were born, meaning that you had to live without a father. She is one of the brightest students we have ever taught here at Hogwarts, and never does anything without it being to the best of her incredibly capable ability. I think she is a shining example to other parents," Professor Dumbledore eulogized whilst Isabel blushed involuntarily. "However, whenever you asked her questions about your father, I understand she was rather vague."

"Yes – but what was this personal loss and unbelievable tragedy?" Lottie questioned impatiently.

"Well – Isabel here, formerly known as Isabel Willoughby before the Wizarding War, was best friends with Lily Evans and James Potter all the way through school. Isabel was an instrument in getting them together, I believe," Dumbledore continued. Harry smiled weakly. "And eventually a bridesmaid at their wedding – she is godmother to Harry here, and has never fully recovered from losing such close friends of hers."

Tom and Lottie both turned to give Harry sympathetic and sorrowful looks simultaneously – Harry smiled once more. It wasn't a weak smile either – he was immensely proud of his parents; and also of Tom and Lottie's parents, who had suffered almost as much as he had through becoming an orphan.

"But during the war, Isabel was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society devoted to fighting Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore carried on – noticing that neither Tom or Lottie flinched at the full usage of his name. "And she had to change her name to Isabel Urquhart in order to evade the Death Eaters. Isabel, I believe, had been in a romantic relationship with the man who is your father since her seventeenth birthday. The day before Lily and James Potter died, Isabel became engaged to this man – she loved him very much and I believe that she still does, as I observe that she still wears her engagement ring, almost thirteen years later. Unfortunately, this man was wrongly jailed for a crime he did not commit – but now we know the truth."

"Who is our dad, mum?" Tom asked. "He is obviously very special to you – and I want to know him. Professor Lupin told me I was the spitting image of my dad, but with my mum's eyes." Harry grinned at this also – he was the same, the image of his dad with his mother's distinctive emerald eyes.

"Same here – except he said I was the image of my mum but with my dad's eyes," Lottie agreed.

"Well, you might have worked out that your last name isn't Urquhart," Isabel said softly, finding her voice at last.

"What are our full names then?" Lottie asked.

"Your full name is Charlotte Isabel Black, and yours, Tom, is Thomas Sirius Black, after your father," Isabel said quietly.

"Sirius Black?" they both chorused disbelievingly. "The one who has just escaped from Azkaban?"

"He was wrongly jailed!" Isabel protested. "He's the most amazing man I ever met, my best friend at school – closer to me, perhaps, than Lily and James, and they were like my brother and sister. I lived for twelve years, hoping and praying that one day Sirius would come back to me – I always held faith in him being innocent, not believing that he could do that to his friends. And he didn't. That man in the corner did it and framed your dad, so he had to suffer for twelve years in Azkaban, his only comfort knowing that he didn't do it. He didn't even know he had children until I met him in Diagon Alley and I told him. I know that he will be the most amazing dad you have ever seen and you will adore him. It's impossible not to adore Sirius, not to love him."

"Can we meet him soon?" Lottie asked tentatively.

"Yes – once we have him cleared of all charges and Peter Pettigrew is sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. Then we can live as a proper family," Isabel said.

"And when will he be cleared?" Tom said eagerly.

"As soon as he returns from the grounds and the Minister for Magic arrives," Isabel answered.

*

At six o'clock in the morning, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin dragged themselves in the direction of Dumbledore's office. Their sense of direction was automatic – Sirius had never forgotten the numerous trips to their headmaster's office when he was in school. They had been the best years of his life, especially his seventh. In some ways he wished he was seventeen again, having fun, partying until the small hours and playing practical jokes on his friends.

"I'm so sorry, Padfoot," Remus said – he had been apologising profusely ever since he transformed back into a human at dawn. Sirius smiled at the use of his old nickname.

"Moony, stop apologising! It's fine!" Sirius said firmly.

"I know – but I could have been unleashed on the kids if you hadn't have stopped me," Remus shook his head sorrowfully.

"Oh, it's you!" the statue at the entrance to Dumbledore's office said in surprise as Sirius grinned audaciously.

"Miss me?" he asked.

"Of course, Mr Black," the statue replied reminiscently. It sprung aside, allowing the two friends to enter Dumbledore's office – where Cornelius Fudge and several Ministry officials were standing, interrogating the quivering, pathetic form of Peter Pettigrew.

"Sirius!" Isabel cried, running forward and throwing her arms around her fiancé.

"Hey beautiful," he grinned. Tears began to run down Isabel's cheeks as she remembered him saying this to her about five times every day in school.

"Peter's confessed – they are going to make you a free man," she whispered into his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and advanced further into the room.

"Where are the children?" Sirius asked joyfully.

"In the Hospital Wing with Madam Pomfrey. I didn't think it suitable for them to be in here when this was going on," Isabel replied.

"Mr Black!" Cornelius Fudge called. "I'm sorry about the years you had to spend in Azkaban – as soon as you have signed this proclamation declaring you a free man and that you committed no crime, you are free to go and we will take Mr Pettigrew to Azkaban." Peter whimpered, but everybody ignored him.

"Thank you," Sirius smiled – a genuine smile. He took the quill Professor Dumbledore offered him. He proudly and momentously signed his name on the bottom of the paper, shook hands with Cornelius Fudge and then turned to Isabel.

"I think it's time to realise the dream," he said as they held each other close.

"Definitely – but before we do, I think there's something we need to do. Something we owe to the memory of Lily and James," Isabel smiled sadly. Sirius nodded.

"I love you, Isabel."

"I love you, Sirius."

*

Isabel's idea had taken them to Godric's Hollow. She parked her car outside the little village, behind the church. The flowers were in full bloom, it being a gloriously hot day in July. In the passenger seat sat Sirius Black, smiling. He gripped Isabel's hand tightly and they got out of the car. Out of the back clambered Tom and Lottie Black, with their friend Harry Potter. Sirius and Isabel had insisted upon bringing Harry along – they drove all the way to Little Whinging in Surrey to rescue their godson from the clutches of the calamitous Dursleys for a few days.

"Shall we go?" Sirius suggested, and they wandered forward into the square before the church, where the War Memorial was. But, as their eyes lingered on the Memorial, it metamorphosed into something entirely different. It was a statue of a laughing man and woman, both about twenty-one, cradling a little boy of one. Both father and son had messy hair, and the father wore glasses. The mother was very beautiful and even though the statue was made of stone, her eyes glinted magically, just like Isabel and Sirius remembered.

They all stayed silent as they trundled into the churchyard – and they walked among the graves to find the one they were looking for. Eventually, they found it.

_Here lies James Potter, born 27 March 1960, and his beloved wife Lily Potter, born 30 January 1960 – both who died 31 October 1981._

_The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death._

The tears began to fall thick and fast down Isabel's rosy cheeks – Harry stood there silently, his heart racing and gulping large breaths of the clear summer breeze. Sirius put his arm around him as Harry put down the large bouquet of white lilies and pink roses that they had arranged at home.

They stood their soundlessly for a while – eventually, they all turned to leave. Now Sirius and Isabel felt that they could truly say goodbye to their best friends, who they missed every second of every day. They looked at each other as Tom, Lottie and Harry led the way out of the graveyard, and hugged.

"I think it's time for us to go to Cornwall..." Sirius whispered.

*

The garlands of flowers bordered the little platform that had been set up for the wedding on the beach – the whole arrangement was beautiful. It was at the bottom of the cliffs, in the shadow of the castle which was the ancestral home of the Willoughbys.

Anya Willoughby sat at the front proudly, waiting for her daughter to be married. Beside her sat her two sisters and brother with their spouses, along with her late husband's brothers and their spouses. On both sides of the aisle sat Willoughby cousins, who were now grown up, some of them married, some of them single and some of them with their own children. Other guests that had taken their seats were even some of Isabel and Sirius' old school friends that Isabel's mother had tracked down. They had all accepted of course – often accompanied with the, "Thank Merlin they are marrying at last!" – and seated were Noah and Allie Hamilton, Jane Goldsmith and the mother and son of Frank Longbottom, who had been tortured to insanity with his wife Alice. They were sat on the second row behind Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. All the other Weasleys were present, easy to spot with their vivid red hair. Professor Dumbledore sat next to Professor McGonagall, smiling and cracking jokes with the people around them. Sarah, Finnola and Edward were also there – as was Nymphadora Tonks, who was sporting her favourite shade of bubblegum pink hair. It looked very nice with her pale summer dress and high heels (worn upon the insistence of her mother, Andromeda, and her father, Ted, who were also present). She was hoping to see Remus Lupin – never having forgotten him.

Sirius Black stepped out and took his place at the front, next to his best man – Harry Potter. Sirius felt it was the only right thing to do, as he was the son of his best friend who would have undeniably been his best man. He looked unbelievably handsome in his charcoal grey suit and sky blue tie, with a pale blue carnation in his buttonhole, matching the flowers in the arrangements around the beach wedding location.

Isabel Willoughby didn't want to be fashionably late for her wedding. She had waited too long to get married to the man she loved and she wouldn't miss it for the world. Her father had died five months ago, so she had picked the only other perfect man for the job of giving her away – the boy, friend and man who had led her down the stairs at her seventeenth birthday ball, Remus Lupin.

"Are you ready?" he grinned.

"Of course," she smiled back, standing up and taking his arm. Behind them, Tom and Lottie, dressed in a suit and a pretty blue bridesmaid dress respectively, smiled too. They were excited that their mum and dad were finally getting their dream wedding.

Everybody stood up as Remus and Isabel came forward. Isabel's dress was strapless ivory, scattered with tiny pearls, nipped in at her waist and full in the skirt. Her hair was adorned with small blue flowers and she smiled radiantly as she walked down the aisle towards the man she loved more than anyone in the world, the man she had waited practically a life time to be with, the man who was grinning at her like nobody else in the world existed right now, the man she was so utterly in love with and would be for the rest of her life.

Sirius Black.

_

* * *

_

_Oh - thinking about all our younger years  
There was only you and me  
We were young and wild and free_

_Now nothing can take you away from me  
We've been down that road before  
But that's over now  
You keep me coming back for more_

_Baby you're all that I want  
When you're lying here in my arms  
I'm finding it hard to believe  
We're in heaven  
And love is all that I need  
And I found it there in your heart  
It isn't too hard to see  
We're in heaven_

_Oh - once in your life you find someone  
Who will turn your world around  
Bring you up when you're feeling down_

_Yeah - nothing could change what you mean to me  
Oh there's lots that I could say  
But just hold me now  
Cause our love will light the way_

_And baby you're all that I want  
When you're lying here in my arms  
I'm finding it hard to believe  
We're in heaven  
And love is all that I need  
And I found it there in your heart  
It isn't too hard to see  
We're in heaven_

_I've been waiting for so long  
For something to arrive  
For love to come along_

_Now our dreams are coming true  
Through the good times and the bad  
Yeah - I'll be standing there by you_

**"Heaven", Bryan Adams**

_

* * *

_

So - did you like the ending? I hope you did! Please review to tell me what you think :) I'm not sure what I'm going to be working on next but this school year is plagued with exams and revision so it may just be one shots until June/July time. I hope that's not the case and it probably won't be - I have about a million started fanfictions that are about two chapters in but then I've lost inspiration; there's one about Charlie Weasley I started to write, plus one about Sirius Black giving Harry and Ginny relationship advice and another about two cousins coming to start at Hogwarts and causing a stir amongst the Marauders. For now I'm going to focus on finishing

**Sirius Black's Guide To Dealing With Girls **_and _**Part Of Your World**_. Hopefully I'm back in a couple of weeks with a new story so keep looking :) _

_Thank you so much for all your support and lovely words throughout the posting of this story, _

_Love and hugs,_

:) x Lily Orange x (:


End file.
